Bulky Trash

(Sperrmüll)

GDR, 1990, 72 min, color
In German; English subtitles
Credits:
Director
Script
Editor
Camera

Synopsis

East Berlin, summer 1989: A young East Berliner navigates the final months of the GDR. Enrico has quit his apprenticeship to focus on the punk band Sperrmüll (Bulky Trash), which he founded with three friends from their high-rise housing development. Making music with what other people discard helps him let off steam and frustrations with his family, politics and his country. When his mother and sister move to West Berlin, he holds on to his beliefs and decides to stay and insists on maintaining his cultural identity even after the fall of the Berlin Wall. 

Awards

2024 The End and the Beginning, 5th Semana Mundial de la Cinefilia, Córdoba, Argentina
2022 Play Doc International Film Festival Tui, Spain
2021 Retrospective POESÍA DE LO COTIDIANO: Los primeros films de Helke Misselwitz, Mar del Plata Int. Film Festival, Argentina
2021 Retrospective Everyday Poetry: The Films of Helke Misselwitz, Anthology Film Archives, New York
2013 Achtung Berlin Film Festival, Germany
1991 Recent Films from Germany, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
1991 Bozen Film Days, Italy

Press comments

“A sensitive documentary that fondly portrays and sympathetically vouches for the people who were overrun by the political developments of German unification.” —filmdienst.de

 

“[This] is a critical review of the dramatic socio-political changes that happened in such a condensed period of time and tries to fathom how individuals were affected by the rapid transitions. The study of a particular family serves to condense the large problem into a focused scenario—the drama and tragedy of divided Berlin is reflected in this contemporary tale of separation, generational conflict, and shifting ideological convictions.”  —Karen A. Ritzenhoff, “The Dissolution of the GDR in Documentaries”

Availability

Stream

Shibboleth login