Full Metal Village

Outside, under the Holstein sky, dairy cows graze; indoors, there’s homemade cake, as well as coffee and a chance to gossip. At first glance, a very normal village, one of many of its kind in Germany, introspective and idyllic – Wacken. There is, though, at least once a year, when the Wacken Open Air takes place over three days. "Wacken Rules!" goes up as a battle cry and 40,000 heavy metal fans with long hair, black leather jackets and studded collars stream into the village from all over the world. They have come to celebrate both themselves and their music. Black queues form in front of the small local supermarket. In the meadow there’s a long line of one tent after the other and in front of the huge Black Metal Stage thousands of arms and heads surge to the hard beat of metal music. "Full Metal Village" looks at the curious and likeable clash of two cultures and documents, via the temporary music event, the picture of a countryside community whose sense of identity and cohesion would now be unimaginable without the heavy metal festival.

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