“A piece of forgotten history of cinema…” Wurlitz, a place with a resounding name. Many still know it: the Wurlitzer Music Box from the 60s. Known only to the initiated: the Wurlitzer cinema organ that accompanied silent movies. But hardly anyone knows that the inventor of the sound film is also a Wurlitzer: Hans Vogt.

And while the music box and cinema organ have become cultural history, the sound film is as current as it was when it was invented 100 years ago. The starting point for all three inventions is this small town in Upper Franconia. Hans Vogt was born here in 1890 as the son of the village blacksmith. It was at the fair that he had his key experience and the fixed idea “to invent the sound to go with the film”. This was made possible by his younger brother Gustav, who took over the village blacksmith’s shop in his place. Hans Vogt, inventor, tinkerer, loner, vegetarian, teetotaler was drawn to faraway places. To Berlin…

In “Wurlitzer oder Die Erfindung der Gegenwart” (Wurlitzer or The Invention of the Present) the story of the inventor of the sound film, who went abroad, is connected with the Wurlitzers, who stayed in the place. “These images of rural Bavaria caught in the timeless cycle of life are quite breathtaking.” (Jim Hickey Edinburgh Festival)