Boxhagener Platz

Wednesday, 30 March 2022 | 6:00pm GMT
Terenure Library, Dublin

Boxhagener Platz

Dir.: Matti Geschonneck, in colour, 103 min., Germany/ France 2010
German with English subtitles

1968 in East Berlin: Student revolts and the sexual revolution are happening in the West, tanks have entered Prague. On Boxhagener Platz in East Berlin, Grandma Otti and her twelve year old grandson Holger experience their own adventures. Otti has buried five husbands already and the sixth isn’t feeling too well either. Now she is being romanced by two new admirers: old Nazi Fish-Winkler and ex-revolutionary Karl Wegner from the Spartacus League. Otti falls in love with Karl and suddenly, Fish-Winkler is dead. Holger becomes an amateur detective and learns about love, the 1960s’ movement and impressing women with the help of ‘revolutionary’ secrets. Everything goes well until Holger makes a mistake that endangers Karl of all people…

Dry humour, melancholia, and a uniquely Berlin charm – "Boxhagener Platz" uses these ingredients to look back on the 1960s, while telling a wonderful love story between a mature woman, who loves cooking and cemeteries, and a revolutionary turned gentleman. The film is a love letter to Berlin, to the small world on Boxhagener Platz and an homage to fantastic actors from East and West.

Multi-award-winning director Matti Geschonneck grew up on Boxhagener Platz. The film is based on Torsten Schulz's debut novel of the same name, which he adapted into the screenplay.


Presented by Terenure Library Dublin and the Goethe-Institut Irland.
Courtesy of Claussen+Putz Filmproduktion.