GERMANY AND REUNIFICATION
Film Festival in association with
Madras Film Society & Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation
Venue: Film Chamber Theatre
10th to 13th November 2008?
At the end of the eighties all over East Europe the Iron Curtain started crumbling. Autumn of 1989 saw years of protests in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) coming to a climax. What began as a small gathering of discontent people in places like the Nikolaikirche (Nikolai Church) in Leipzig became a mass movement. Hundreds of thousands of people went to the streets to express their frustration and anger with the GDR government.
On 4th November half a million people demonstrated in East Berlin demanding reforms such as freedom of speech and the right to travel to West Germany. The communist system of the GDR was quickly coming to an end. On the evening of 9 November the border between the two German states was opened. People from East and West who had never met before embraced each other, cried, laughed and danced on the Berlin Wall. Even though it took until the 3 October, 1990 for Germany’s official reunification, it was during November 1989 that people succeeded in breaking down the borders.
This film festival is the opportunity to look at the events of this time and the many changes reunification brought for the people.
Nikolaikirche – VHS / 10.11.2008 / Director: Frank Beyer / 1995/ tv feature film / 86 min.
Astrid Protter, architect, finds herself at a turning point. Not only are things changing in her marriage, but also at work and in society as a whole. More and more frequently, she argues with her brother, Alexander, an officer in the State Security Service.
Soon, there is a deep rift in her family. Meanwhile, in the Nikolaikirche, the peace movement led by Reverend Ohlbaum is turning into a serious threat for the State. Astrid Protter has become one of their members…
Nikolaikirche is the story of this family, living in Leipzig during the 2 years of unrest that culminated in the Monday Demonstration in the autumn of 1989. Frank Beyer has made a grippingly realistic film of Erich Loest’s novel about the dramatic events in the final days of the German Democratic Republic.
Outside Time/ Neben der Zeit 16 mm / 10.11.2008 / Director: Andreas Kleinert / 1995 / colour / feature film/ 91 min.
A small town in East Germany after reunification. Everything is changing, the railway station, including the bar, is being closed down, and someday soon the trains won’t stop any more. The place and the inhabitants have been left “outside time”. Former allies, the Russian soldiers, have left. One of them, Sergei, wants to stay in Germany and hides himself in an abandoned barracks. He meets Sophie, the young station superintendent. Initial shyness grows into love which, however, threatens to destroy the harmony of Sophie’s little family.
Berlin is in Germany 11.11.2008 Director: Hannes Stöhr / 2001 / colour / feature film/ 97 min.
Brandenburg penitentiary 2001: Martin Schulz is released after 11 years of imprisonment. As a former citizen of the German Democratic Republic, he experienced the fall of the wall from his prison cell. Upon release, he receives the items in his possession at the time of his arrest.
A blue East German identification card, an East German driver’s license, and a wallet full of East German money. Martin is full of hope when he returns home, but hardly recognizes East Berlin again. The “New Berlin” has already taken over and the “Old East Berlin” clings desperately to its last remaining traits. The eleven-year absence is like a time machine and Martin runs into one difficulty after another while finding his place in this “new” world.
Liberated Zone/ Befreite Zone / 12.11.2008 / Director: Norbert Baumgarten / 2003/ colour/ feature film/ 97 min.
A seemingly light-hearted romantic drama on the surface, Liberated Zone ends up having a little bit more on its mind as this uneven but intriguing film progresses. The film centres on a football-mad village reeling from an economic depression and the arrival of a black football star.
Sylvia (Johanna Klante) is embroiled in a fairly serious relationship with Micha (Florian Lukas), the son of the town’s soccer team president. While the pair seem to be madly in love, Micha nevertheless cheats on Sylvia with her best friend, leaving Sylvia to resort to engaging in a secret affair with the town’s star player, Ade Banjo (Michael Ojake). This interracial romance proves to be quite combustible, as tensions in the town build to an almost unbearable pitch.
Amongst Germans / Unter Deutschen - VHS / 13.11.2008 Director: Georg Stefan Troller 1995/ colour/ documentary film / 92 min.
No issue occupies Germans as much as their identity, particularly since reunification. Director, Georg Troller, and his team travelled for one year throughout Germany looking for answers.
An inspection of current Germany was undertaken: films, villages, carnival and Oktoberfest, workers, artists, and high class people. Troller and his team took part in the wedding of a black man with a chic Munich girl (”the main thing is that he’s not a Prussian”, the bride’s father said); in an ecumenical mass for animals (do the Germans love animals more than people?); spoke with chimneysweepers, whores and neo-Nazis. Germany’s intellectual elite also appears, from Grass to Heiner Mueller, from Doris Doerrie to Reich-Ranicki. and questions are asked about German identity and self-assessment, past and hope for the future.
The Irrational Remains- DVD / 13.11.2008 / Director: Thorsten Trimpop 2005/ colour/ documentary film/ 95 min.
They had just turned 20, and their life, which was just about to begin, was cruelly interrupted. In 1987, two friends Suse and Matthias tried to escape from East Germany to the West. Their attempt failed and they were picked up at the border by the East-German secret service Stasi. They were imprisoned and questioned for months afterwards. Matthias’ girlfriend (also called Susanne) decided not to join them, and so remained free. The lives of the three friends changed dramatically after these events. They did not get together for almost twenty years – until the shooting of this documentary.