Press
Divided Cinema: German Cinema at the Wall
November 30 - December 16, 2009
Shaped by two world wars and three decades of imposed separation, Berlin bears the scars of the 20th century like no other city. The currents of Cold War that overtook the world also swept up the metropolis’s many filmmakers. They turned to the city's most famous monument—the Berlin Wall—as a jumping-off point for their work.
Commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, DividedCinema juxtaposes films from each Germany. Though politically and geographically opposed, the films share a deep concern with separation. Some, like Jürgen Vogel’s And For Your Love Too, embrace it; others, like Wim Wenders’ classic Wings Of Desire, cast a melancholy air of mourning over their divided home. Berlin-Schoenhauser Corner follows East German youth who push the boundaries of separation, while Yesterday Girl examines the aftermath of crossing those boundaries. Pulling together these experiences with division, two documentaries chronicle the wall itself. Look At This City is a DEFA documentary by Karl Gass that recounts the history of West and East Berlin from the end of World War II to the building of the Wall on August 13, 1961. The wordless documentary The Wall recounts the construction, separation and destruction, before a backdrop of history both banal and iconic.
Twenty years after reunification, Divided Cinema looks back on forty years of German separation. In doing so, we hope to reveal two cinematic histories intertwined by their past but forcibly separated by their present.
Special thanks to Alexandra Bush, Eric Ames; University of Washington, Codula Brown, Seattle University, Jason Dorree DEFA Film Library, Goethe Institute New York
http://www.nwfilmforum.org/live/page/series/1127
Image 2 - Yesterday Girl 1
Image 3 - Yesterday Girl 2
Image 4 - The Wall 1
Image 5 - The Wall 2
Image 6 - Berlin-Schoenhauser Corner
