Putting Things Straight

Putting Things Straight (German title: Ich räume auf) is a 1979 film directed and written by Georg Brintrup. It was shot in 16 mm film and was the director's first television release. The script is based on a polemic printed in 1925 ("Ich räume auf - Meine Anklage gegen meine Verleger") by the Jewish German poet Else Lasker-Schüler, the principal woman representative of German Expressionism.

Premise
The film describes a dispute between poet Else Lasker-Schüler and her publishers. The film takes place in Berlin before, during and after World War I. It deals with the rights of the author; quoting from Karl Marx: "a writer is judged as productive, not on the amount of ideas he produces, but on the amount of money his publisher is able to profit from his works."

Cast

 * Gisela Stein – Else Lasker-Schüler
 * Frank Burkner – Paul Cassirer
 * Hanns Zischler – Alfred Flechtheim
 * Ulrich Gregor – Kurt Wolff
 * Hans Christoph Buch – Franz Werfel
 * Harun Farocki – Friend of Flechtheim

Production
The film was first broadcast on 23 December 1979, by Westdeutscher Rundfunk. It was then shown at the 1980 International Film Festival Rotterdam.