Beyond the Screen: Special Events at STS · Concert, book presentation, film screenings

JULY 18, 2026

   

The Sound of Christof Lauer, Live

From Screen to Stage - Film Screening + Saxophone Concert

Talking to You dives into the world of Christof Lauer, one of Europe's greatest jazz saxophonists. A soloist with NDR for 25 years, a longtime member of the Hessischer Rundfunk ensemble, and once part of the legendary Albert Mangelsdorff Quintet, Lauer has spent a lifetime chasing new sounds. This film reveals how he tells his story through music, and why the search never ends.

And it doesn't stop at the screen: the evening comes alive with a saxophone performance by Christof Lauer himself.

📅 Tonight — July 18, 2026
🕕 18:00
📍 O-Ton Köln (Kyllstrasse 7a / 50678 Köln /Südstadt)

Don't miss this rare chance to see the man behind the music, on screen and in the room.

---

Music Against Hate: Book & Film Night

With Pauline Black and Daniel Rachel

For over seven decades, generations of artists have forged unsettling connections with the aesthetics, mass hysteria, and ideology of Nazism. Whether born of shock, recklessness, or outright provocation, rock 'n' roll has harboured these associations more than any other art form.

This Ain't Rock 'n' Roll explores why and how some of rock's most prominent figures flirted with Nazi imagery, from Keith Moon and Vivian Stanshall donning SS uniforms, to Siouxsie Sioux and Sid Vicious parading swastikas at the height of punk.

But how much responsibility do fans, the media, and the music industry bear for what often appeared to be a murky fascination with the eroticised perversions of fascism? Music historian and journalist Daniel Rachel tackles these sensitive questions in This Ain't Rock 'n' Roll, urging us to take a hard look at the artists who shaped us and to ask why they courted controversy through the symbols of a regime responsible for some of the worst atrocities of the twentieth century. Rachel illuminates the long shadow the Third Reich has cast over pop culture and our collective consciousness.

This event takes place as part of the SEE THE SOUND festival, organised in cooperation with Freedom Sounds Festival.

Following the book presentation, the film Pauline Black: A 2 Tone Story — winner of our Best Music Documentary Award at SEE THE SOUND — will be screened at Odeon (walking distance from COMEDIA Theater).

A portrait of Pauline Black, lead vocalist of The Selecter and pioneer of the 2 Tone movement, whose fusion of punk and ska carried an unambiguous anti-racist message through the turbulent late 1970s. Jane Mingay's documentary explores the paradox at its heart: how a Black artist attracted a following that partly drew from skinhead and neo-Nazi subcultures, and how Pauline Black continues to carry that message today. A Q&A with Pauline Black will follow the screening.

Tickets are available at €8 (book presentation only) or €12 as a combo with the film screening.

Everyone is welcome to continue the evening at the aftershow party, featuring special DJ sets by Pauline Black and Daniel Rachel, hosted by Freedom Sounds Crew, at LOTTA, Kartäuserwall 12, 50678 Köln, starting at 22:00.