Die Mühlendammschleuse

Comrade Couture

February 2009 •German

This film undertakes a journey into the amazing parallel universe of East Berlin’s fashion designers and experts in the art of survival. For, in the midst of the constraints of life in the GDR, there existed a fantasy world where it was possible to dance to another tune, be individual and even provocative. The most important characteristic of this bohemian scene was one’s per- sonal style. But this certainly wasn’t something that could be bought off the peg in the GDR. In this parallel universe it was up to you to create your own individual image – with your own hands. This film tells the story of the desires, the passion and the dreams that were tried and tested, lived and performed in the shadow of the Berlin Wall.

Dusk: 1950s East Berlin Bohemia

December 1993 •German

A documentary and film essay about the artist scene in East Berlin during the 1950s.

Immer bereit

July 1950 •German

Documentary (in colour) about the first youth meeting (Deutschlandtreffen der Jugend) in East Berlin in 1950.

Generation '89 - Growing up in the year of change

February 2015 •English

The documentary tells the story of the reunification from the perspective of six teenagers from East Germany.

Berlin Hauptbahnhof

January 1988 •German

Documents the remodeling of the Ostbahnhof in Berlin Friedrichshain into the central station of the GDR.

Berlin – Bauplatz der Jugend

January 1982 •German

Documents the work of youth work action on construction sites in East Berlin.

Ocana, der Engel der in der Qual singt

April 1979 •German

Legendary drag performer Ocaña in performance with a cardboard Marilyn on the west side of the Berlin Wall.

Die Klasse - Berlin '61

June 2015 •German

Erich Mielke - Master of Fear

November 2015 •German

Docudrama about life, career and breakdown of Erich Mielke, the former Security chief of East Germany.

Störung Ost

June 1996 •German

In the early 80's die sozialistische kleiderordnung ( The Socialist Dress Code) in East Berlin is attacked. By black and colourful punks. Youth clubs, restaurants and cafes are closed for the punks. Where to go? Their homes are raided by the police.

Tunnel to Freedom

July 2021 •German

13 August 1961: the GDR closes the sector borders in Berlin. The city is divided overnight. Escape to the West becomes more dangerous every day. But on September 14, 1962, exactly one year, one month and one day after the Wall was built, a group of 29 people from the GDR managed to escape spectacularly through a 135-meter tunnel to the West. For more than 4 months, students from West Berlin, including 2 Italians, dug this tunnel. When the tunnel builders ran out of money after only a few meters of digging, they came up with the idea of marketing the escape tunnel. They sell the film rights to the story exclusively to NBC, an American television station.

Something to Do with the Wall

April 1991 •English

In 1986, Ross McElwee (Sherman's March) and Marilyn Levine were making a film about the 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall, when the imposing structure was still very much intact as the world’s most visible symbol of hardline Communism and Cold War lore. They thought they were making a documentary on the community of tourists, soldiers, and West Berliners who lived in the seemingly eternal presence of the graffiti emblazoned eyesore. But in 1989, as the original film neared completion, the Wall came down, and McElwee and Levine returned to Berlin, this time to capture the radically different atmosphere of the reunified city.

Berlin (Disco-Film 18)

January 1977 •German

East Berlin disco movie.

Manchmal möchte man fliegen

November 1981 •German

Documentary about a youth work brigade working on the construction of a tower block in Berlin-Marzahn

Escape from East Berlin

October 1962 •English

East Berlin, shortly after the construction of the Berlin Wall. Kurt Schröder and his family dig a tunnel to escape to West Berlin as they struggle to overcome the obstacles blocking their underground path to freedom.

The Tunnel

January 2001 •German

Inspired by true events, Olympic swimmer Harry Melchior defects from East Germany in the 1960s and hatches a daring plot to help his sister and others flee East Berlin through a 145-yard underground tunnel.

Der Tunnel

January 1983 •English

Das Geständnis

September 2015 •German

In 1988, the East Berlin homicide squad again and again encounters crimes that - according to the opinion of party leadership and state security - do not exist in socialism.

Berlin am Meer

October 2007 •German

Heimliche Ehen

January 1956 •German