Light is burning in the old Franciscan church. The guests arrive to warm up and sleep. There is soup and Berliner doughnuts. When everyone has been taken care of, the light goes out again. A voice asks the filmmakers: Do you know Cologne well? A few photographs shown in-between a lot of black screen. People, places, Ingo talks. An alternative city tour from the perspective of persons living in the streets. Interesting even when you can’t make out much – possibly even art. At the end of this documentary miniature the light goes on again. And the protagonist steps out onto the street.
Jan Künemund
Contains mentions of drug-use, mental health conditions
A cinematic observation of a landscape shaped and still marked by borders. Even 35 years after reunification, borders are still present in Marienborn. There is the memorial recalling the violence of the SED regime. Just a stone’s throw away, new borders have been added. Refugees now live in the former NVA barracks, which have been converted into a collective accommodation centre. To get here, they, too, had to cross borders, often clandestinely and at the risk of their lives. Now another border separates them from the outside world: a combination of wall and fence that inevitably brings to mind the former border security facilities of the GDR. In long tracking shots whose wide-angle view makes them seem almost otherworldly, the film observes this coexistence of opening and delineation. While the images make continuities visible, the sound brings out the subtle differences between the various locations.
Luc-Carolin Ziemann
Contains mentions of racism
Contains mentions of drug-use, death, murder
Contains depictions of physical violence, torture
Contains mentions of death
Photosensitivity warning: Contains flashes of light that may trigger seizures for people with visual sensitivities.
This work is part of our exhibition
27/10–1/11/2026
Free entry
Find seven works at Kohlrabizirkus.
Tue–Sun | 11:00–18:00
Wed | 12:00–20:00
Taking place at Kohlrabizirkus with one piece situated at the Leipzig Central Station ground-floor and a special performance at Heilandskirche/Westkreuz.
Subject to the General Terms & Conditions of DOK Leipzig. Please be advised that due to a limited number of visitors allowed in the venues longer waiting times are to be expected. Thanks in advance for your patience.
“Still I believe / We are created, free and equal / Now / Now / Now …” US-American singer Lena Horne interpreted the Hebrew song “Hava Nagila” with different lyrics: “Now!” (1963) became an anthem of the civil rights movement in the USA, while Santiago Álvarez’s film of the same name rose to become an agitprop classic. He edited photographs and a few short moving image sequences of racial discrimination, police violence and white terror to the rhythm of Horne’s song. The International Leipzig Documentary and Short Film Week alone screened “Now!” five times in two decades after it had won the Golden Dove in 1965. The presence of Cuban documentary film in Leipzig amounted to a long success story, not least thanks to Álvarez, its best-known exponent. In addition to screenings of his films, he served several times as a member of the International Jury. Even after the controversy surrounding his stance on the Prague Spring 1968, Álvarez continued to be a regular guest.
Florian Wüst
Contains depictions of racism, physical violence
