The Land Beyond the Rainbow

(Das Land hinter dem Regenbogen)

Germany, 1991, 89 min, color

In German; English subtitles

Das Land hinter dem Regenbogen © DEFA-Stiftung, Dieter Jaeger

Credits:

Director
Kipping, Herwig

Script
Kipping, Herwig

Dramaturg
Richter, Erika

Editor
Simon, Barbara

Camera
Dressel, Roland

Set Design
Wilde, Peter

Costume Design
Gusner, Inken

Music (Score)
Mahler, Gustav

Cast
Delmare, Fred
Ewert, Thomas
Glatzeder, Winfried
Harbort, Christine
Janke, Stefanie
Keil, Sandra
Latchinian, Sewan
Pieczka, Franciszek
Reznicek, Sebastian
Schönfeld, Swetlana
Werner, Axel

Themes & Genres:

Synopsis

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. . Only children – like the Rainmaker and Marie – still believe in the goodness of people and true love.

Part of the series WENDE FLICKS: Last Films from East Germany.

Commentary

In his directorial DEFA feature film debut, Herwig Kipping sets out to explore the roots of the socialist society in which he grew up. Critics credit this film with being one of the most radical condemnations of East Germany, a mixture of Hieronymus Bosch and Breughel “dominated by picturesque tableaux, canvasses awakened to filmic life, contemporary history bundled together in close-ups.” The DVD features the director's cut of the film.

Awards

2009	Official Selection, South African Tri-Continental Film Festival
1992	Official Selection, Berlin International Film Festival
1992	German Film Award in Silver

Press comments

“Archaic images from the art history album. Bosch and Fellini, Breughel and Dovzhenko, the Bible and the Brothers Grimm. … I count [this film] among the most important discoveries at the end of ‘old’ DEFA.”
— Ralf Schenk, film historian

“This film might one day become a document of the turmoil of the times – of the tension, the liberation, the involvement, the distortions, and especially of the newly awakened desire for creative opposition.”
— Rolf Richter, film historian

“A meditation on false beginnings and the uses and abuses of ideologies.”
— Reinhild Steingröver, Eastman School of Music