Film Archive

Retrospective 2021
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The Empty House
Miriam Pfeiffer
After reunification the Israelite Religious Community Leipzig grows – and needs room. But their new residence remains empty for the time being: neighbouring land owners sue.
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The Empty House

Das leere Haus
Miriam Pfeiffer
Retrospective 2021
Documentary Film
Germany
2004
30 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
None

After reunification, immigration made the Israelite Religious Community of Leipzig grow to considerable size, too big for its old rooms. The Ariowitsch House, built in the 1920s as an Israelite old people’s home, is to become the home of a generously dimensioned cultural and community centre – and at the same time commemorate the residents of the home who were deported to Theresienstadt in 1942. But the start of the development is delayed: neighbouring land owners file a lawsuit. Miriam Pfeiffer intervenes in the ongoing public debate, asking citizens of the city about their suspicions concerning reasons of the refusal that the competent court may not be aware of.

Sylvia Görke

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Miriam Pfeiffer
Cinematographer
Miriam Pfeiffer, Alexandra Czok
Editor
Maurice Hünsni
Producer
Schulmuseum Leipzig
Sound
Anja Hempel, Gert Blumhagen
Score
Chor der Israelitischen Religionsgemeinschaft zu Leipzig
Retrospective 2022
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The First Birthday
Gabriele Hochneder
Silvia, single mother, celebrates her daughter’s first birthday. A matter-of-fact and occasionally sobering portrait that revolves around a sanguine woman.
Filmstill The First Birthday

The First Birthday

Der erste Geburtstag
Gabriele Hochneder
Retrospective 2022
Documentary Film
GDR
1978
17 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
None

Silvia Szuprizinski has lived alone with her little daughter for a year now: time to take stock. The young woman talks, her stories commented by Gabriele Hochneder’s pictures of everyday life that tell of efforts. Silvia, leaning against the tiled stove, talks about the failed relationship with the child’s father with detachment, but also with a certain degree of regret. At least her own family are present, all of them at the door in time for the first birthday. Still, Silvia spends her nights alone with herself – and the television. The fact that Hochneder’s film, despite the adversities, does not become a lament is at least partly owing to its sanguine main protagonist.

Carolin Weidner

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Gabriele Hochneder
Cinematographer
Jürgen Lubosch
Editor
Ilona Thiel
Producer
Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen der DDR
Retrospective 2021
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The Road We Don’t Walk Together
Dominik Graf
Dominik Graf contributed a reflection on West German post-1945 urban architecture to the anthology film “Germany 09”: improvisations decoratively arranged after 1990.
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The Road We Don’t Walk Together

Der Weg, den wir nicht zusammen gehen
Dominik Graf
Retrospective 2021
Documentary Film
Germany
2009
13 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
None

The project “Germany 09” brought the upper league of German auteur filmmakers together to take stock of the Berlin Republic in individual film contributions. Dominik Graf contributed to this collage of the German image a reflection about post-1945 urban architecture shot on old Super8 stock: provisional, slipshod ensembles of pretty-ugly public buildings, fenced-in urban wasteland, draughty storefronts and uninhabited housing blocks in Munich, Duisburg, Frankfurt am Main, West Berlin, all of them testimonies to an unplanned through traffic for social and migrant milieus. A thorn in the side of the reunited mania for cleaning up, renovating and decorating.

Sylvia Görke

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Dominik Graf
Script
Dominik Graf
Cinematographer
Martin Gressmann
Editor
Katja Dringenberg
Producer
Dirk Wilutzky, Tom Tykwer
Sound
Andreas Mücke-Niesytka
Filmstill The Bridge of Caputh

The Bridge of Caputh

Die Brücke von Caputh
Eva Fritzsche
Retrospective 2022
Documentary Film
Germany (Soviet Occupation Zone)
1949
15 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
None

Workers reconstruct a railway bridge and Eva Fritzsche reconstructs the process behind it – by re-enacting what she couldn’t film, supported by the participants, who re-play themselves. The film sings the praises especially of those whose commitment was held in low esteem: young people who even give up playing football, and women who suddenly find themselves working in the factory. “Women as blacksmiths, what a joke!” a job centre employee sneers. This echoes what Eva Fritzsche herself had to listen to at DEFA: “Women don’t make films!” Yes, she did – and created one of the most impressive testimonies of the years of reconstruction.

Felix Mende

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Eva Fritzsche
Script
Eva Fritzsche
Cinematographer
Arndt von Rautenfeld, Götz Neumann
Editor
Anneliese Schlüter
Producer
DEFA-Studio für populärwissenschaftliche Filme
Score
Eberhard Schmidt, Fritz Steinmann
Retrospective 2021
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The Jewish Lane
Peter Nestler
Remains of a medieval Jewish ghetto were discovered in Frankfurt am Main. Nationwide protests against “building over” them were the occasion of this preservation of the findings on film.
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The Jewish Lane

Die Judengasse
Peter Nestler
Retrospective 2021
Documentary Film
FRG
1988
44 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
English

Archaeological evidence of medieval Jewish life had barely been discovered during excavation works in Frankfurt am Main when it was to be “built over” again. The civil protest in 1987 spread to the whole of the Federal Republic – and called Peter Nestler to the scene. His film undertakes what the Frankfurt authorities wanted to avoid: a thorough securing and contextualization of the findings. He not “only” places the discovered remains of the Jewish ghetto in the context of urban and German history, but also lays bare the contemporary Federal German insensitivity regarding cultural history and commemorative politics, displaying it as if in a museum cabinet.

Sylvia Görke

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Peter Nestler
Script
Peter Nestler
Cinematographer
Rainer Komers
Editor
Peter Nestler
Producer
Südwestfunk (SWF)
Sound
Peter Nestler
Narrator
Peter Nestler
Retrospective 2021
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The Stormers
Dagobert Loewenberg, Peter Voigt
An outraged film pamphlet takes the West German coverage of the Six-Day War as an occasion to launch a sweeping verbal blow against the Bonn Republic.
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The Stormers

Die Stürmer
Dagobert Loewenberg, Peter Voigt
Retrospective 2021
Documentary Film
GDR
1967
10 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
None

“If you want to storm, you use stormer methods”, to quote a direct reference to the infamous anti-Semitic smear sheet of the Nazi era. Set to shrill trumpet sounds, this outraged film pamphlet dissects, or so it seems, the drastic jargon of the “West German monopoly press”, especially the publications of the Springer publishing house, in their coverage of the Six-Day War between Israel and the Arab coalition of Egypt, Jordan and Syria. At the same time, it uses the reviled style for its own argumentation. Under the auspices of the DEFA newsreel editors of “Der Augenzeuge” (The Eyewitness), a sweeping blow against the Bonn Republic arises from news images and superimposed newspaper articles.

Sylvia Görke

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Dagobert Loewenberg, Peter Voigt
Script
Dagobert Loewenberg
Cinematographer
Dieter Frycia
Producer
DEFA-Studio für Dokumentarfilme
Score
Kurt Zander
Retrospective 2021
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That Must Be a Piece of Hitler
Walter Krüttner
A belligerent documentary polemic about Führer tourism at Obersalzberg. The Federal German authorities have prohibited the iniquitous practice but are still cashing in big time.
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That Must Be a Piece of Hitler

Es muß ein Stück vom Hitler sein
Walter Krüttner
Retrospective 2021
Documentary Film
FRG
1963
11 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
None

Walter Krüttner is considered the only satirist among the signatories of the Oberhausen Manifesto, which was announced at the West German Short Film Festival in 1962. His film begins like those that the Oberhausen group wanted to put a stop to: with ländler music and a quote by regional poet Ganghofer. “Lord, the ones you love you let fall into this land.” Krüttner observes the tourist hustle and bustle at Obersalzberg: tour guides leading Führer travellers through the Nazi buildings. And Krüttner counts the profits West German authorities make by this. He himself profited by winning the “Silberne Lorbeer” (Silver Laurel) of Deutscher Fernsehfunk (German Television Broadcasting), awarded at the International Leipzig Documentary and Short Film Week 1963.

Sylvia Görke

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Walter Krüttner
Script
Walter Krüttner
Cinematographer
Fritz Schwennicke
Producer
Cineropa-Filmproduktion
Score
Erich Ferstl
Retrospective 2022
Filmstill To Be Young, and What Else?
To Be Young, and What Else?
Gitta Nickel
Despite ideological shortcomings, the Stralsund People’s Dockyard youth brigade do excellent work. Nevertheless, the city becomes the focal point of socialist conditions of value creation.
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To Be Young, and What Else?

Jung sein – und was noch?
Gitta Nickel
Retrospective 2022
Documentary Film
GDR
1977
49 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
None

High up north, in the Stralsund People’s Dockyard, Gitta Nickel encounters a youth brigade whose members speak frankly: “I’m 27 now. Judging from my own example I can say: it’s been nothing but work, really nothing. I can really say that about me, stark and stiff.” Stralsund as the focal point of socialist conditions of value creation: A ship may be completed every two weeks, but housing, let alone leisure facilities aren’t. The diagnosis: The quality-of-life to performance ratio is less than ideal. The brigade’s team spirit, though, is still strong, even if, as some think, there are some shortcomings on the “ideological side”.

Carolin Weidner

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Gitta Nickel
Cinematographer
Niko Pawloff
Producer
DEFA-Studio für Dokumentarfilme
Sound
Andreas Walter
Retrospective 2023
Filmstill The Baltic Way
The Baltic Way
Arūnas Matelis, Audrius Stonys
In 1989, a human chain stretched hundreds of kilometres across Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania to demand the independence of the Baltic states. Images of a unique demonstration.
Filmstill The Baltic Way

The Baltic Way

Baltijos kelias
Arūnas Matelis, Audrius Stonys
Retrospective 2023
Documentary Film
Lithuania
1990
10 minutes
Lithuanian
Subtitles: 
English

On 23 August 1989, the people in the Baltic states demonstrated their solidarity against the Soviet occupation and took to the streets for their sovereignty. They formed an over 600-kilometres-long human chain stretching through Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Touching images of a one-of-a-kind event, captured in a lyrical composition.

Katharina Franck, Andreas Kötzing

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Arūnas Matelis, Audrius Stonys
Script
Arūnas Matelis, Audrius Stonys
Cinematographer
S. Griškevicius, J. Martonis, A. Petraits, Z. Pomecka, Z. Putilovas, R. Damulis
Producer
Lietuvos Kino Studija Nemencines
Sound
Viktoras Juzonis
Retrospective 2023
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The Cathedral
Laila Pakalniņa
When Soviet troops invade to suppress the independence movement, barricades are erected in Riga. A bloody struggle begins. The cathedral becomes a place of refuge.
Filmstill The Cathedral

The Cathedral

Doms
Laila Pakalniņa
Retrospective 2023
Documentary Film
Latvia
1991
19 minutes
Latvian
Subtitles: 
English

The Latvian director’s graduation film from Moscow Film School does not deliver images loyal to the regime but is a testimony to her journalistic background. When the independence struggle is to be suppressed by military power, the people in Riga erect barricades. Laila Pakalniņa captured the dramatic events whose topicality is frightening.

Katharina Franck, Andreas Kötzing

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Laila Pakalniņa
Script
Laila Pakalniņa
Cinematographer
Gints Bērziņš
Producer
Ināra Kolmane
Sound
Juris Riekstiņš, Ģirts Gaiķis
Retrospective 2023
Filmstill The Orange Alternative
The Orange Alternative
Mirosław Dembiński
Can a dwarf be dangerous? When martial law is imposed, a protest movement forms in Poland that undermines the order of the regime with subversive artistic interventions.
Filmstill The Orange Alternative

The Orange Alternative

Pomarańczowa Alternatywa
Mirosław Dembiński
Retrospective 2023
Documentary Film
Poland
1988
24 minutes
Polish
Subtitles: 
English

“No freedom without dwarves!” What form of oppositional logic can take hold when nothing is logical anymore? “The Orange Alternative” has answers. When living conditions in communism reach the threshold of the surreal, the protest movement that sprang from student circles decides to subvert the order of the regime by Dadaist artistic interventions.

Katharina Franck, Andreas Kötzing

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Mirosław Dembiński
Cinematographer
Maciej Odoliński
Editor
Bogusława Furga
Producer
The Polish National Film School in Łódź
Sound
Urszula Zaręba, Jan Silczak
Score
Piotr Wilczyński
Retrospective 2023
Filmstill The Wall
The Wall
Anatolijs Pjatkins
A piece of the Berlin Wall stands in Riga – as a symbol of the freedom that must still be achieved there. People’s looks waver between hope and uncertainty.
Filmstill The Wall

The Wall

Mūris
Anatolijs Pjatkins
Retrospective 2023
Documentary Film
Latvia
1991
10 minutes
without dialogue
Subtitles: 
None

The Wall as a symbol. While the deadly border has already been overcome in Berlin, freedom must still be fought for in other states. A piece of the Wall was sent to Riga in 1990 – as a gesture of solidarity. A short cinematic essay in which people’s looks waver between hope and uncertainty.

Katharina Franck, Andreas Kötzing

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Anatolijs Pjatkins
Script
Anatolijs Pjatkins
Cinematographer
Moisejs Bitke
Producer
Riga Documentary Film Studio
Score
Mārtiņš Brauns
Retrospective 2021
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Theresienstadt: A Documentary Film from the Jewish Settlement Area
Kurt Gerron, Karel Pečený
Nazi propaganda surviving in fragments, staging the camp as a retirement home for Jewish “resettlers”. The prisoner and conscripted co-director Kurt Gerron died in the gas chamber.
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Theresienstadt: A Documentary Film from the Jewish Settlement Area

Theresienstadt. Ein Dokumentarfilm aus dem jüdischen Siedlungsgebiet
Kurt Gerron, Karel Pečený
Retrospective 2021
Documentary Film
Germany
1944
17 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
None

A Nazi propaganda film that survived only in fragments and never got to “test” its effect. It took intensive research to identify the scattered remains, correct the title in circulation, “Der Führer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt” (The Führer Gives a City to the Jews), and clarify who was able to see the roughly 90-minute attempted defraud at all before it disappeared. The intended international audience was no longer within reach in 1944/1945. But would they have been convinced by the retirement home for “resettled” Jews staged here? Kurt Gerron, film and theatre celebrity, interned in the Ghetto and conscripted as co-director, was deported to Auschwitz and gassed as late as 1944.

Sylvia Görke

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Kurt Gerron, Karel Pečený
Script
Kurt Gerron
Cinematographer
Ivan Fric, Čeněk Zahradníček, Josef Cepelak, Karel Pečený
Editor
Ivan Fric
Producer
Karel Pečený
Sound
Jaroslav Sechura, Josef Francek
Retrospective 2022
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Travelling Circus
Angelika Andrees
A travelling circus, its audience and the people and animals that make up its core. An uncommon everyday life unfolds with a fine sense of rhythm and situations.
Filmstill Travelling Circus

Travelling Circus

Wanderzirkus
Angelika Andrees
Retrospective 2022
Documentary Film
GDR
1975
24 minutes
German
Subtitles: 
None

Rolling into the village: Circus Hein. Angelika Andrees is interested in the individual acts presented in the ring, but even more in what happens before and afterwards. Or what the audience look like from below, when various bottoms are squashed on the wooden benches. Sometimes there’s clacking and knocking, or the pattering of rain, and in the end, Bob Dylan sings. “Travelling Circus” was made when Andrees was still at the Babelsberg Film Academy. She experiments with different elements, switches tones and thus captures the moods crystallising around the travelling attraction. A portrait emerges, without commentary and with very few, short interview sequences.

Carolin Weidner

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Angelika Andrees
Cinematographer
Julia Kunert
Editor
Manuela Hamann
Producer
Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen der DDR
Sound
Andreas Walter