It came as a total surprise, the fall of the Berlin Wall 16 years ago.
This programme offers a review on the divided Berlin, transition and German reunification. The films document the unvarnished bitter and euphoric emotions, as well as absurd aspects of East-West German history observed from various points of view.

IN-SIGHT
Gerd Conradt, 1986, documentary, 10 min.

The film examines 24 hours of life along the Berlin Wall. Quotidian German Insanity appears in time lapses: the extension of the border fortification between the ordinary street activities like hanging up the washing and table tennis.

HAVE A NICE DAY BERLIN
Thomas Werner, 1987, art-house film, mini DV, 12 min.

An official advertising film discribing East Berlin as the "Socialist Capital of the GDR" is connected to an absurd story line. The film demonstrates the GDR-society's illogical connection between their demands and reality.

KONRAD! SPOKE MS. MAMA…
Ramona Köppel-Welsh, 1988/89, art house film, mini DV, 9 min.

Archive material, private family photos, pictures taken from the Berlin Wall as well as staged scenes combine to a intense, claustrophobic movie-poem about the inprisoned life in east Germany.

THE BERLIN WALL 1989
Ira Schneider, 1989, art house film, Beta SP, 5 min.

The American media-artist Ira Schneider spent the summer of 1989 in Berlin. The art video presented here originated in August of 89 (!). The film images show the osmosis-like movement of people through a gap in the wall.

BERLIN, BERLIN
Hartmuth Jahn, Reiner Konstantin, 1990, music clip, Beta SP, 5 min.

A musical collage of Berlin Wall speeches by well-known politicians. First published in 1987, this remix now contains political statements of 1990.

DREWITZ or THE GRASS GROWS FASTER THAN YOU CAN PERCEIVE
Oliver Rauch, 1995, documentary, 16 mm., 30 min.

In the middle of the 1990s the Drewitz border post was demolished. A former custom officer reflects on the performance of the GDR passport control and custom office. The social transition in East Germany questions GDR history and demands answers.

 

BERLIN IS IN GERMANY
Hannes Stöhr, 1999, feature film, 36 mm., 14 min.

Heinrich Leaves was imprisoned as a GDR citizen. After many years, he is released in 1998. Without dialogue, the film shows his first day of freedom and the changes that have taken place in East Berlin. Heinrich feels like he is in a time machine…