This harsh, yet poetic critique of Stalinism in East Germany centers on the mythical village of Stalina in 1953. The villagers legitimize injustice by glorifying “real existing socialism” … at the same time as they experience their own destruction by the system. .
The stories of four – out of approximately 250,000 – former political prisoners in East Germany.
Director Andreas Voigt interviewed people of different ages and social backgrounds about their experiences after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. He paints an important picture of this historic period in German history, filled with radical social and economic change and insecurity.
In a loose set of cabaret pieces, Steffen Mensching and Hans-Eckardt Wenzel—highly acclaimed East German poets, songwriters and clowns—satirize East German life in its final days and the arrival of new times after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Paul is unhappily married to a beautiful but ignorant woman who cheats on him. Paula, who has two children from different fathers, is in a relationship of convenience with a tire salesman. When Paula and Paul meet in a bar, they fall in love.
This stunningly comprehensive documentary captures the famous Monday Demonstrations of 1989, which began in Leipzig and spread to other East German cities in the months leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9
Berlin, early 1930s. Lissy (Sonja Sutter), a young woman raised in a socialist working-class family, marries a clerk who promises her a better life. During the depression, however, he gets fired and can’t find a new job.
Filmmaker Rüdiger Stein wants to produce his first meaningful documentary. By chance, he meets Klaus and Manuela, two young teenagers who grew up in difficult social circumstances. They are expecting a child and plan to move in together.
Documentary footage is intercut at a breathless pace to tell the story of Berlin’s reconstruction post-WWII from the East German perspective.