Blue Velvet Revisited

In the organizer's words:

A Meditation on a movie by Peter Braatz
Featuring David Lynch, Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Laura Dern, Dennis Hopper, Brad Dourif, Jack Nance, et al
with original soundtrack music by Tuxedomoon, Cult With No Name, John Foxx

In 1985, musicians and film students Frank Behnke and Peter Braatz turned David Lynch's invitation to invite them for a lengthy interview into a four-month stay during the shooting of his new film Blue Velvet. With a suitcase full of 100 Super 8 film reels and the idea of making their own film about the shoot, they set off for the location at Dino de Laurentiis Studios in North Carolina, USA.

They realized this idea long before DVDs and making of's came into being. On the first day of shooting, Frank was given the job of second sound assistant in the understaffed low-budget production, Peter shot in between and prepared interviews, which they both shot during breaks or in the evenings with Dennis Hopper, Isabella Rossellini, Laura Dern, Kyle MacLachlan and 'Mr. Eraserhead': Jack Nance in their hotels. The 'german documentarists' had free access to all locations and were there every day from very early in the morning until late in the evening after watching the samples from the previous day.

At the end of shooting in November 1985, Peter flew to Berlin to edit the material, Frank stayed in America, having made friends with Oscar winner Alan Splet, who supervised the film's sound work, and was able to work on the film's sound design as his assistant in Berkeley, California.

In 2016, after a first 60-minute cut of the Super 8 film was shown on ZDF in 1988 as a small television play, Peter Braatz digitized all the film material, remounted the film material with Blue Velvet Revisited and got the 1980s cult band Tuxedomoon, as well as John Foxx and Cult with no name to compose the film music. The film was shown at respectable film festivals in London and New York City, among others. It was released in 2019 as an extra on the Blue Velvet Blu Ray by Criterion (in Germany 2025). In Berlin last year, Lynch's eldest son Austin Lynch (for whose current film Frank did the set sound) was present at a tribute event with Blue Velvet Revisited, this year 2026 Ethan Coen at an event in New York City initiated by Peter Braatz.

Frank Behnke has been organizing several Lynch tribute events since 2025, including panel discussions, lectures and concerts - in four different cinemas in Berlin his Blue Velvet program with the original film, the documentary Blue Velvet Revisited with a Q+A and concluding DJ set, consisting of clips with David Lynch's music, which he realized in various collaborations over the decades alongside his painting and furniture making. His last CD with Chrysta Bell was released in 2024, the year before his death. David Lynch would have celebrated his eightieth birthday this year, Blue Velvet's fortieth.

BLUE VELVET REVISITED (Peter Braatz - D, Slov. 2016, 86 m.)
Blue Velvet Revisited on Wikipedia

with subsequent Q&A, music & clips