Our Old Days
(Unsere alten Tage)
| Tschörtner, Petra |
| Tschörtner, Petra |
| Wisotzki, Jochen |
| Engelhardt, Martin |
| Wendt, Angela |
| Lösche, Michael |
| Fengler, Ulrich |
| Gohlke, Roland |
| Dahms, Andreas |
| DEFA Studio for Documentary Films |
Synopsis
Elderly people have to leave their familiar apartments and neighborhoods and move into retirement homes where they have food and care but feel lonely and forgotten. The television is their most faithful companion, and when the director of the retirement home praises the happiness and security of the elderly during the celebration on the Republic's birthday on October 7, 1989, it is hard to believe given the life stories that the women and men openly share with the director.
Director Petra Tschörtner tells of her own grandmother, who lived in such a home longing for her granddaughter. Being forgotten by their sons and daughters, by the young, and successful, is the fate of the elderly. Filmed in fall 1989 shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, when signs of the GDR's collapse are apparent.
Commentary
“Wounds that had been festering beneath the surface for a long time were exposed and conflicts that people in the GDR were no longer willing to tolerate were brought to light.” —Margit Voss, Berliner Zeitung
“Tschörtner takes a disillusioned and concerned look at the reality of life for older people in the GDR, beginning with the death of her own grandmother in a retirement home. In Our Old Days, the exemplary nature of these institutions is nothing more than a facade; behind the doors of the retirement home, the residents are pushed to the margins of society.” —dhm.de
Awards
| 2022 | Retrospective for Petra Tschörtner, achtung berlin Film Festival, Germany |
