From 17–21 June, the three Munich legends WON ABC, NEON and CEMNOZ will be painting a big wall at the Schlachthof Aftermath — bringing their styles live to the festival right after we took the story to the big screen.
As part of the festival program, we are presenting Wholetrain at the Murnau Theatre. And this screening comes with something special: three of the real writers behind the visual power of the film will be in the house. Some graffiti films try to explain the culture from the outside. Wholetrain did something different.
When Florian Gaag’s film came out in 2006, it spoke the language of the yards, the tunnels, the platforms and the night. It was not only a story about four young writers chasing fame, respect and the next train. It was a film built on atmosphere: the pressure before an action, the silence before the first line, the sound of cans in a bag, the tension inside a crew, and the feeling when steel finally starts to move.
The graffiti in Wholetrain was created with the help of real writers. Alongside WON ABC, NEON and CEMNOZ, other artists such as PURE from New York City and CIEL were also involved in shaping the film’s authentic visual language. Their work helped make the movie feel true to the culture — not staged, not copied, but painted from within the scene.
For our special festival program, we are proud to welcome WON ABC, NEON and CEMNOZ from Munich. They were not actors in Wholetrain. They did not play writers. They are writers.
These are three of the artists who helped give the film its real graffiti heartbeat. The pieces, panels and wholetrain moments that made the movie feel authentic were not created by a film department trying to copy graffiti. They came from people who lived the culture, painted trains, knew the codes and understood the energy of style writing from the inside.
WON ABC is one of the heavyweight names of German graffiti. Coming out of the Munich scene, his work has moved from trains and walls into large-scale murals, canvases and international exhibitions — always carrying that original graffiti DNA. Characters, letters, movement, attitude: WON’s universe is wild, precise and unmistakable. NEON stands for classic Munich writing history. A true style writer with deep roots in the train era, NEON is connected to some of the most important chapters of German graffiti culture. His letters carry the discipline of original style writing: structure, flow, balance and power. No decoration, no fake attitude — real writing.
CEMNOZ brings another raw and complex layer to the story. Known for intense compositions, strong colors and detailed letter structures, CEMNOZ represents the kind of writer energy that made Munich one of the key cities in European graffiti. His style is controlled chaos — full of movement, tension and character.
PURE will not be present at the festival, but his name belongs in this story. As a graffiti writer from New York City, PURE is connected to the visual force and spirit of 1980s and 1990s NYC writing — an era that cannot be separated from the roots, attitude and global language of graffiti culture. His contribution to Wholetrain helped connect the film’s European train-writing atmosphere with the original style, pressure and authenticity of New York graffiti history.
Together, WON ABC, NEON and CEMNOZ are not just names in the background. They are part of the reason Wholetrain still hits different today. Together with other writers involved in the film, including PURE and CIEL, they helped make Wholetrain look, feel and breathe like graffiti culture — not like a movie about graffiti, but like a movie painted from within the scene.
For writers, this screening is a chance to see the film again with different eyes. For fans, it is a chance to understand who stood behind the colors. For the culture, it is a moment to give respect where respect is due.
Because every wholetrain has a story. And behind every legendary piece, there are real hands, real names and real history.
Join us from 18–21 June at Schlachthof Aftermath to see WON ABC, NEON and CEMNOZ painting live on a big wall — and meet them again at the Murnau Theatre for a special screening of Wholetrain. Big wall at Schlachthof Aftermath. Wholetrain on screen. The real writers in the building. Munich graffiti history, live and direct.
Author: MoS
MOS Orga.
