Gsbt

by  Frederic Jage-Bowler   With gentle, serene images, Paola Calvo’s documentary  Violently Happy  offers a glimpse inside  Schwelle 7 , choreographer  Felix Ruckert ’s sun-drenched physical performance space in Wedding – a space where all kinds of experimental body practices, from the spiritual to the sexual, unfolded until it shut its doors in 2016.  Violently Happy  features members of the community and Ruckert himself talking about their lives, ideas and BDSM desires, as well as depicting Schwelle 7's activities: myriad bodies involved in everything from meditation to mass orgy. A snapshot of Berlin sexual freedom and experimentation, the film plays at Moviemento through February 15. So what exactly was Schwelle 7? To me, it’s a playground for adults. It’s about having fun through sex and role play. And, like in kids’ play, sometimes you bruise your knee and get hurt a little. To me, it was primarily about having fun, more than about inflic...