HAUPLEHRER HOFER was above all, for me, the village schoolmaster. I have placed him in a historical context and have shown the relationship between him and his young students. I am as much interested in the schoolmaster as in his students. I have studied the lifestyle and working conditions of both, told the story of both. I was more and more interested in representing the surrounding social groups though : the workers, the pastor and the children. Finally, it is Hofer together with four or five other characters whose stories are told in the film. Peter LILIENTHAL