The Gate

Filmstill The Gate

The Gate

The Gate
Jasmin Herold, Michael David Beamish
German Competition Documentary Film
Documentary Film
Germany
2023
88 minutes
English
Subtitles: 
German
Audio Description
World premiere

The top-secret military testing facility Dugway lies in the barren desert of Utah. This is where the U.S. Army are rehearsing the wars of tomorrow. They specialise in nuclear weapons, chemical and biological agents, including anthrax and special nerve toxins. Even the Hiroshima pilots practiced on this site. Meeting at this war site far from all combat zones are: a heavily traumatised soldier, a military chaplain, a survivor of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima and a father looking for his missing son. They are all proud of their American Way of Life and at the same time marked by the horrors of war. Because even in Utah, far from all actual fighting, it has indelibly inscribed itself – into the people’s souls and the collective memory of the U.S., for many decades the nation with the highest military budget.

This visually powerful film approaches its protagonists without prejudice, trying to learn how they navigate a social system that sees the use of violence as a right of freedom. What does it mean when guns and their attendant rituals are used to strengthen family cohesion, when shooting practice becomes a bonding exercise between fathers and sons? And when – unimpressed by the daily arms buildup – fear hovers over everything and seeps deeper into life every day?


Luc-Carolin Ziemann

Contains mentions of suicide, mental health conditions

Screenings & Tickets DOK Leipzig Logo

10.10.
#221
CineStar 4
1976: Search for Life + The Gate
During Checkout you can apply discounts, your accreditation or season passes
10.10.2023
CineStar 4
#221
1976: Search for Life + The Gate
During Checkout you can apply discounts, your accreditation or season passes
Calendar
12.10.
Hauptbahnhof Osthalle
1976: Search for Life + The Gate

Free entry

During Checkout you can apply discounts, your accreditation or season passes
12.10.2023
Hauptbahnhof Osthalle
1976: Search for Life + The Gate

Free entry

During Checkout you can apply discounts, your accreditation or season passes
Calendar
13.10.
#591
Schauburg
1976: Search for Life + The Gate
During Checkout you can apply discounts, your accreditation or season passes
13.10.2023
Schauburg
#591
1976: Search for Life + The Gate
During Checkout you can apply discounts, your accreditation or season passes
Calendar
15.10.
#754
Passage Kinos Astoria
1976: Search for Life + The Gate
During Checkout you can apply discounts, your accreditation or season passes
15.10.2023
Passage Kinos Astoria
#754
1976: Search for Life + The Gate
During Checkout you can apply discounts, your accreditation or season passes
Calendar

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Jasmin Herold, Michael David Beamish
Script
Jasmin Herold, Michael David Beamish
Cinematographer
Claire Pijman
Editor
Claire Pijman
Producer
Heino Deckert
Co-Producer
Jasmin Herold, Michael David Beamish
Sound
Michael David Beamish
Sound Design
Michael Kaczmarek, Adrian Lo
Score
Markus Aust

Contact DOK Leipzig Logo

Main Contact
World Sales
German Distributor
Michael Höfner
Nominated for VER.DI Prize for Solidarity, Humanity and Fairness, Goethe-Institut Documentary Film Prize, DEFA Sponsoring Prize