Special Programme on the Political Upheaval as Reflected in Documentary Films

Looking at the political changes, but not focussing on the fall of the wall or the jubilations about German unification: 15 documentary and animated films from six Central and East European countries, shot between 1981 and 1993. A colossus begins to falter and collapses: the foundation of Solidarnósc in Gdánsk, the winding-up of companies in socialist Hungary in the late 1980s, escape movements and, eventually, mass demonstrations in Leipzig, their bloody suppression in Bucharest, the disintegration of multi-ethnic states and the difficult way to democracy…

Largely unknown works and classics, the stories behind history in shattering contemporary documents.

"Transit '89. Gdansk-Leipzig-Bucharest" is supported by the Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur (Government-funded organisation devoted to the examination and reappraisal of the Communist dictatorship in East Germany).

Don't miss:

DOK Summit - "Making History - The Battle of Images and Symbols"

Programme 1: Freedom

Tuesday 27.10. | 8 pm | CineStar 5
Wednesday 28.10. | 5 pm | Schaubühne Lindenfels

• Put (The Way) by Stevan Živkov | Yugoslavia 1990 | 5 min. | Animated Film

• Leipzig in Autumn (Leipzig im Herbst) by 
Andreas Voigt and Gerd Kroske | GDR 1989 | 53 min. | director of photography/co-director: Sebastian Richter
  The events of 9 October 1989, the ‘miracle of Leipzig', filmed on the spot and reflected frankly by all participants. The document of the political Change par excellence.

• The Monument (Das Monument) by 
Klaus Georgi and Lutz Stützner | GDR 1989 | 4 min. | Animated Film

• We Want to Be German and Free (Deutsch und Frei. Geschichten aus dem Weihnachtsland) by Thomas Grimm | Germany 1990 | 45 min.
  The first free elections in the East German provinces in 1990. Voting for a government and "Miss Roots". An angry satire on freedom at the garden gnome level.

Programme 2: Strike

Wednesday 28.10. | 2.30 pm | CineStar 5
Thursday 29.10. | 10.15 pm | Wintergarten

• Workers '80 (Robotnicy '80) by Michał Bukojemski, Andrzej Chodakowski and Andrzej Zajączkowski u.a. | Poland 1980 | 94 min.
  The hour of birth of Solidarnósc at the Gdansk Lenin shipyard in 1980. Strike, negotiations, prayers, rebellion and solidarity. A milestone of European history.

Programme 3: Blood

Thursday 29.10. | 4.30 pm | CineStar 7
Friday 30.10. | 11.30 am | Wintergarten

• Timişoara, December 1989 (Timişoara, decembrie 1989) by Ovidiu Bose Paştină | Romania 1991-1993 | 81 min.
  A reconstruction of the events that led to the downfall of the Ceauşescu regime in dark, surreal, coarse-grained black-and-white pictures. Definitely not a 'peaceful' revolution.

• On Christmas We Took our Liberty Portion (De Crăciun ne-am luat raţia de libertate ) by Cătălina Fernoagă and Cornel Mihalache | Romania 1990 | 18 min.
  Are images of dead bodies the fodder of revolution? An experimental film about the role of images and the media in Romania in 1989.

Programme 4: Shift of Direction

Thursday 29.10. | 10.30 pm | CineStar 6
Friday 30.10. | 5 pm | Polnisches Institut

• Stories from the Round Table (Opowieści okrągłego stołu) by Piotr Bikont and Leszek Dziumowicz | Poland 1989 | 56 min.
  The Polish Round Table from February to April 1989 – a lasting political model. And a comedy whose protagonists painstakingly practise playing their new roles to the media.

• Exit (Wyjscie) by Malgorzata Bienkowska | Poland 1990 | 30 min.
  A newly rediscovered document of the time about the Warsaw Embassy refugees in 1989. Moving tales of reasons why the people fled and what they expect from the future. Can you swap your home-country?

Programme 5: Nations

Friday 30.10. | 10.30 pm | CineStar 6

• The Hardest (Najteskoto) by Afrodita Markovic | Yugoslavia 1988 | 2.43 min. | Animated Film

• The End of Czechoslovakia as Seen from the Parliament (Zánik Československa v parlamentu) by Pavel Koutecký | Czech Republic 1993 | 75 min.
  The negotiations about the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in the Czechoslovakian parliament. A vanity fair, politics as performance and ritual – so much for the subject of democracy.

Programme 6: Liquidation

Friday 30.10. | 4.00 pm | CineStar 7
Saturday 31.10. | 10.30 am | CineStar 7

• The Heritage (Hagyaték) by Kati Macskássy | Hungary 1990 | 2 min. | Animated Film

• In a Vice (Szoritásban) by Tamás Almási | Hungary 1987 | 94 min.
  The restructuring of a steel mill according to market economy criteria: a new manager arrives, workers are made redundant. This is 1987. The Hungarian 'Path of Renovation'.

Programme 7: Transition

Saturday, 31.11. | 5.00 pm | CineStar 8
Sunday, 01.11. | 5.00 pm | Schaubühne Lindenfels

• Sitis by Rainer Schade | GDR 1989 | 11 min. | Animated Film

• Last Year Titanic (Letztes Jahr – Titanic) by Andreas Voigt | Germany 1990 | 101 min.
  Leipzig, December 1989 to December 1990. Insecurity, bitterness and fears, irony and black humour, everyday life and the last dance on a sinking ship. The revolution turns into a carnival.