Farewell Disco
(Abschiedsdisco)

Abschied © DEFA-Stiftung
Losansky, Rolf |
Losansky, Rolf |
Grewald, Helmut |
Reinicke, Hans-Jürgen |
Thiel, Ilona |
Beck, Werner |
Braumann, Barbara |
Lakomy, Reinhard |
Brauer, Dana |
Hellwig, Ellen |
Hoffmann, Daniela |
Kubisch, Holger |
Marquardt, Fritz |
Matschulat, Anneliese |
Saewert, Susanne |
Schreier, Gert-Hartmut |
Schulze, Horst |
Schwarz, Jaecki |
Winkler, Wolfgang |
Fischer, Harald |
DEFA Studio for Feature Films |
Synopsis
15-year-old Henning is deeply shaken by the death of Silke, his first love. He decides to visit his grandfather one more time in his village that soon must give way to brown coal mining. Henning is speechless when he sees excavators eating through the landscape, destroying all life. In the almost deserted area, he encounters various people: A scavenger; a villager, who saves animals; and a woman in a closed disco. Being in this seemingly haunted environment, questions arise for the boy about the responsibility of saving the earth. In the end, he plants little trees in an almost dead landscape.
The film is also available for a Digital Site License for educational partners. Please find more information here.
Commentary
Although the East German government introduced ambiguous environmental laws as of its founding in 1949, its ideals could not be fulfilled in tandem with the country’s economic growth plans and budget restrictions. Over the next decades, environmental problems increased to such an extent that the government classified all kinds of environmental data as “confidential” in 1972 and “secret” in 1982. At the end of the 1970s, the first grassroots environmental groups were founded, and the growing ecological movement became critical in drawing public attention to increasingly disastrous environmental problems. The activities of these groups were closely watched, infiltrated or stopped by the Stasi. In 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the founding of the East Berlin Umweltbibliothek were turning points in the increasingly political environmental movement, which became a crucial player during the peaceful revolution of 1989.
The DEFA Studios produced many environmental films that followed the official party line. However, the growing public environmental awareness was also reflected in some films. Several documentaries, animation and feature films touched on environmental issues and questioned the officially promoted environmental situation. These films, especially the animation films, are sharp and satirical discussion of taboo topics, including forest damage and air and water pollution. Other films deal critically with problems caused by brown coal mining, including the resettling of villages. But these film projects were a red flag for the studio officials, and scripts and rough cuts went through extensive and complicated approvals.
In his youth films Damned, I'm Grown Up (1974) and Farewell Disco (1989), director Rolf Losansky tells stories about coming of age and the destruction of the environment and culture caused by opencast lignite mining in Lusatian villages.
In the 1974 film, 15-year-old Klaus loves his little natural paradise where he can watch nature and think about his girlfriend. But rumors are circulating that a power plant will be built near the village and some of the old houses will be demolished. One day, huge excavators arrive and destroy Klaus’ little paradise.
15 years later, Farewell Disco tells a similar story about Henning, who is deeply shaken by the death of Silke, his first love. He decides to visit his grandfather one more time in his village that soon must give way to brown coal mining. While Klaus calmy watches the excavators eating through the landscape and destroying his paradise in the final scene, Henning takes on an active role. He feels responsibility and decides to plant little trees in an almost dead landscape saving the endangered environment.
Both films were shot on location in Lusatia, an East German area in which brown coal was mined for over five decades, mostly for power plants. This meant demolishing villages, resettling people into new housing complexes and the destruction of natural habitats, not to mention air and water pollution.
Losansky had already wanted to film Farewell Disco in 1983, but the scenario was rejected by the DEFA Studio because discussions about ecological and social effects of opencast lignite mining were long considered taboo. Finally in 1989, Losansky could make his film, but the topic lost its explosive nature after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Awards
2024 | Retrospective REDISCOVERED, Zeughaus Kino, Berlin, Germany |
2024 | Patagonia Eco Film Festival, Argentina |
2026 | Section: Homeland, Cottbus Film Festival, Germany |
Press comments
“In Farewell Disco, director Rolf Losansky revisits the theme of the destruction of the natural environment caused by open-cast lignite mining that he had also addressed in his 197[3] film Damn It, I’m Grown Up. The death metaphor of a falling tree at the beginning of the film is replaced in the last scene by the planting of trees as a sign of resistance.” —Deutsche Kinemathek, “Zwischen Aufbruch und Resignation”
“A committed literary adaptation of the subject of environmental destruction and the threat of loss of homeland in Lusatia. Rolf Losansky's film project about a taboo subject in the GDR was blocked for many years and could only be realized in 1989." —progress-film.de
“A top-class coming-of-age film and furthermore testimony of critical ecological awareness in the GDR.” —Cottbus Film Festival, 2016
“Farewell Disco uses strong, symbolic images to address the loss of home through brown coal mining and the first great love.” —Philip Zengel, “Jugend, Aufbruch, Zeitenwende,” 2020
"[The film is a] surprisingly bold [...] warning about what is being irretrievably lost and gives an idea of how a misguided energy policy, which knew no ecological consideration, destroyed organic life contexts." —Helmut Ulrich, Neue Zeit, 1990
“Rolf Losansky wanted to make the film as early as 1983, but the scenario was rejected by the central film administration [at the ministry of culture]. Background: The ecological and social effects of opencast lignite mining were long considered taboo. Even in 1986, Rolf Losansky was unable to realize the script he had submitted. Farewell Disco was one of a series of films that were only allowed to be made in 1989 after a long period of banning. ‘Of course, that was the end of the explosiveness,’ said the director in an interview.” —prominentimostblog.de