About living in Demmin
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | About living in Demmin |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 2017 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Martin Farkas |
| script | Martin Farkas |
| production | Annekatrin Hendel |
| music | Mathis Nitschke |
| camera | Roman shivered |
| cut | Jörg Hauschild , Catrin Vogt |
Über Leben in Demmin is a documentary by Martin Farkas that was made in Germany between 2014 and 2017 . The premiere took place in November 2017 at the DOK Leipzig .
action
In the spring of 1945, Demmin , a district town in Pomerania , was the site of a terrible tragedy: while the Red Army was advancing into the city and - like residents and refugees - could not get any further because the bridges to the west and north were blown, they almost took off thousand inhabitants and refugees too. In the city that was on fire for days, residents cut their wrists, poisoned or shot themselves; Parents first kill their children and then themselves, whole families go into the water weighted down with stones. Until the fall of the Berlin Wall , the specific circumstances of this unprecedented mass suicide were hushed up in Demmin . To date, the number of victims of collective panic is only roughly known. With the so-called »funeral march« right-wing extremists are trying today to instrumentalize the memory of the tragedy for their own purposes. Every May 8th , the day the Second World War ends in Europe, a ghostly ritual takes place in Demmin : neo-Nazis march in silence through the streets of the city to the Peene , where so many were killed. Hundreds of state police have taken position and are trying to keep left counter-demonstrators away from the route. On this tense day, the cracks within German society condense to the extreme.
In his film Über Leben in Demmin , director Farkas investigates the consequences of the events that still have an impact today. Some of the last surviving contemporary witnesses speak for the first time about the terrible and long-suppressed experiences of their childhood and youth. Farkas explores what traces the trauma and the long silence about it have left behind on those who were born later - and how deep they affect our present day. The city as he portrays it in this film seems deeply divided. In addition to the desire for reconciliation and the will to come to terms with it honestly, there is hatred and hostility. In this exemplary location, the film opens up a new perspective on how Germans deal with their history, which continues to be difficult.
production
The film is a production by IT WORKS! Medien GmbH in coproduction with RBB, NDR and BR, funded by Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg, BKM, Nordmedia, Kulturelle Filmförderung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Nipkow program distributed by Edition Salzgeber.
criticism
“Martin Farkas shows a city that has been left alone with its history. His film is completely non-didactic and openly tells of fear, peer pressure and historical trauma, of xenophobia, false grief and the political abuse of feelings. And it shows how strongly the present is linked to the past. "
“Like a badly connected, never treated wound, one thinks, and it is difficult to avoid thinking about the whole thing in pathological-medical categories. In this sense, Farkas' film, photographed with a close eye by Roman Schauerte, subtly assembled by Jörg Hauschild and Catrin Voigt and with subtly supporting music by Mathis Nitschke, is something like healing. It could go like that. "
“In his moving documentary Über Leben in Demmin , director Martin Farkas explores the hidden consequences of the traumatization during the war and the taboo in the GDR in a differentiated, unbiased and thorough manner. Many of his contemporary witnesses speak for the first time about their terrible memories. People who actively work for reconciliation also have their say. In this way the city becomes a symbol for the heavy legacy of history and how it is dealt with. "
Web links
- Survival in Demmin in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Website for the film
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for Über Leben in Demmin . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 173608 / K).
- ↑ Ulrich Sonnenschein: Critique of About Life in Demmin. In: epd-film.de. February 26, 2018, accessed February 5, 2019 .
- ↑ Grit Lemke: "Mom, nu is enough". Damage caused by the war in Mecklenburg: The documentary »About Life in Demmin«. In: jungewelt.de. March 24, 2018, accessed February 5, 2019 .
- ↑ Knut Elstermann: "About Life in Demmin" - a moving and unprejudiced documentary. In: mdr.de. March 22, 2018, accessed February 5, 2019 .