The closing films of the Arthouse Cinema 2024 programme: The two films explore the history of Germany after reunification in 1990.
Beyond the shifting of geographical boundaries and administrative issues, reunification has fundamentally changed the socio-cultural landscape of Germany.
The films presented for the day explore the emergence of specific stigmas associated with what are perceived as "West German" and "East German" characteristics or identities.
Is there still a divided Germany in the minds of Germans today? Has East Germany really disappeared?
Deutschlandreise - 2PM
Germany, 2020, Director: Wolfgang Ettlich | Duration: 87 min. | with English subtitles
A few months after the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, West German director Wolfgang Ettlich and his cameraman Hans-Albrecht Lusznat embarked on a cinematic journey into the unknown, which they have since repeated several times and which they are now undertaking for the very last time: A curious road trip through the East German province has become a road movie like a contemporary document. Ettlich and Lusznat visit people they have already interviewed and captured on film, asking them about their hopes and fears at the time.
Alle reden übers Wetter - 4PM
Germany, 2022, Director: Annika Pinske | Duration: 89 min. | with English subtitles
This movie tells the story of Clara, an almost forty-year-old philosophy doctoral student. Clara has managed to rise from the East German provinces to the intellectual elite of Berlin. She lives in a shared flat in Kreuzberg, is the mother of 15-year-old Emma and has a secret relationship with her work colleague Max. When Clara travels to her mother's birthday celebrations in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, she feels alienated from her old home and her family. Although she knows everyone in the village, she has lost touch with them. Clara is not a diplomat's daughter, as she pretends, but comes from a humble background. Her mother cannot be proud of what Clara has achieved. But her grandmother Charlotte encourages her to realise her potential.
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