„The heart attack of the Berlinale“

Emanuele di Nicola - Bookciak Magazine

 

„A trip down memory lane that is rife with absurdities...

an excursion into an alien, bygone world.“

René Wildangel - Qantara

 

„One of the most original, funny and at the same time

melancholic films of the Berlinale 2019“

Andrea D’Addio - Goethe Institut

 

"Incredible how this film works as a documentary-comedy and can be seen

until the triumphant and magnificently grotesque final image"

Lars Dolkemeyer - Kino-Zeit

 

"A very unique Heimat-film for today."

Felix Denk - fluter magazine

 

„An extremely intelligent documentary essay about the exile

in space and time

Malik Berkati -  j:MAG magazine

 

 

Shadowed by weekly, racist demonstrations in East Germany former factory workers of the German Democratic Republic together with Syrian refugees share the memories of their lost homelands.

The attempt of a convergence, a socialist utopia.

STORY

30 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain the legacy of the German Democratic Republic is at stake in the ruins of the ‘Progress’ factory.

 

Once producing harvester machinery the factory grounds today house asylum seekers who are confronted by weekly racist demonstrations in East Germany.

 

Former factory workers of ‘Progress’ help Syrian refugees with their German Integration Course. What starts with a German language lesson in the ‘Progress’ ruin ends with classes of political education and a GDR military camp. Driven by the personal entanglement of the director the re-enactments are deconstructed and the social conditioning of the GDR everyday life becomes apparent.

 

In this memory work the language itself is of importance which invites assumptions, but never confirms them. It wallows in memories and forbids itself to do so at the same time.

 

Archive material re-establishes the bond of a socialist friendship between the GDR and Syria that connected both countries in the 1980s. The local choir comments with GDR-songs whereby everyone and everything stands for more than just himself.

 

The ‘Progress’ ruin becomes a symbol of the lost homeland which blurs the borders between the GDR and Syria and between the past and today. The attempt of a convergence, a socialist utopia.

CREW

 

director & writer: FLORIAN KUNERT

cinematography: JOANNA PIECHOTTA

sound design: STEFAN VOGLSINGER

composers: STEFAN GALLER, FREYA ARDE

editing: IAN PURNELL, FLORIAN KUNERT

script & editing consulting: HERBERT SCHWARZE

research: CHRISTIAN BLÄSCHE

narrative practice consultant: POH LIN LEE

producers: STEFAN GIEREN, SARAH SCHREIER

 

A production of THE STORYBAY.

Co-produced by KUNSTHOCHSCHULE FÜR MEDIEN & FLORIAN KUNERT

 

supported by:

MITTELDEUTSCHE MEDIENFÖRDERUNG

FILM- UND MEDIENSTIFTUNG NRW

KULTURSTIFTUNG DES FREISTAATS SACHSEN

SÄCHSISCHE LANDESANSTALT FÜR PRIVATEN RUNDFUNK UND NEUEN MEDIEN

SELECTED FESTIVALS

Berlin International Film Festival 2019 - Forum (world premiere) //

Neisse Film Festival, Homo Politicus, 2019, Germany //

WaLa International Filmfestival, 2019, Germany - award for best mid-length film //

Camden International Film Festival, International Competition, 2019, U.S. //

Film Festival Cottbus, Festival of East European Cinema, 2019, Germany //

Duisburger Filmwoche, Competition, 2019, Germany //

Nordische Filmtage Lübeck, 2019, Germany //

Habana Film Festival, 2019, Cuba //

Festival Transcinema, 2019, Peru //

German Film Prize for best mid-length film 2019, Germany //

Budapest International Documentary Film Festival, 2020, Hungary //

Trieste Film Festival 2020, Italy //

Stranger than Fiction Filmfest Cologne, 2020, Germany //

One World International Juman Rights Documentary Film Festival, Prague, 2020, Czech Republic //

Arab Film Festival Berlin, 2020, Germany

Dok.Fest München, 2020, Germany

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