North surcharge - Siberian characters

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Movie
Original title North surcharge - Siberian characters
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1975
length 39 minutes
Rod
Director Karlheinz mouth
script Karl-Heinz Jakobs
production DEFA studio for documentaries
music Tilo Medek
camera Christian Lehmann

Nordzuschlag - Siberian Characters is a documentary by DEFA Studios for Documentaries by Karlheinz Mund from 1975 .

action

The film is the report of a several month trip to the West Siberian oil region of Tyumen . In addition to the images of the vast Siberian landscape, the focus of the film is on interviews with the people who work there. The first to tell his story is a current chief geologist who, at the age of 22, came from Azerbaijan to Western Siberia for oilto find. He talked enthusiastically about the landscape and the people he met here. You have to get used to everything, of course, because in winter the temperatures are between minus 40 and minus 50 degrees Celsius and in summer it is 30 to 40 degrees. For ten years he looked in vain for oil, during which time his research was also questioned by other scientists. But after the first successful drilling, he keeps moving across the country, sometimes against the will of his superiors, so he is so convinced that he is always finding new oil reserves.

The next shots will be shot on a northbound passenger ship on the Irtysh , which is only navigable for about five months each year. It's August and the ship is full of people, some of them people from the north, like geologists and oil workers who have recovered for two to three months in the south, and others are heading in that direction for the first time. You go on a vacation trip on the ship to explore the beauties of the river or go to a new job. Among the passengers are a veterinarian who will work on a mink farm and a student from Kazakhstan who wants to stay in Siberia after finishing her technical college . Heavily loaded cargo ships run parallel to the ship, bringing everything north that is needed there, because entire cities are transported in this way.

We see new buildings in a new city, in which ten years ago only a few more than a hundred year old huts stood. The many new residents also have cars with which they want to go somewhere. This requires roads that are difficult to build. It is an area in which the bog is over ten meters deep and therefore can only be worked there in winter. It has already happened that entire columns of vehicles have sunk and the drivers were barely able to save themselves. The basis for the streets are tree trunks that are piled up with sand from very far away to form dams. It is similar with the track construction for the railroad. The basis for this is created in winter and the track construction work is carried out in summer. Here the film people watch a construction brigade at work. Most of the young people come from the Ukraine and give romance as the main reason for their commitment, but no one really justifies it. One reason that is not said out loud is the “north surcharge”. Those who work here earn around three times as much as in the rest of the Soviet Union . They overlook the fact that there is still no infrastructure as promised to them. Most of them will stay for more years than they originally committed.

But work on a derrick is also shown. The workers come from over 800 kilometers away by plane and helicopter into the taiga , as there are no other connections yet. The workers shown belong to a collective that is responsible for particularly important tasks because they do the test drillings that are determined by the geologists. You are always on duty for six days and then have time off again. Each derrick also has its own cook. When asked by the film people to tell something about their work, they reply that they should rather watch, then they can learn a lot more. But they emphasize that they are a team that has been working together for many years.

Production and publication

Nordzuschlag - Siberian characters was filmed by the KAG DEFA eyewitness on ORWO color under the working title Encounters in the SU .

The GDR premiere took place as part of the IV Festival of Soviet Cinema and TV Films in the GDR on November 2, 1975 in the Kosmos cinema in Berlin . The attempt in the cinemas of the GDR took place on November 21, 1975 on the occasion of the XVIII. International Leipzig short and documentary film week for cinema and television . The film was first broadcast on GDR television on September 26, 1976 in the second program.

criticism

In New Germany, Horst Knietzsch said in a report on the International Leipzig Short and Documentary Week for Cinema and TV in Leipzig as follows:

“The GDR contribution 'North Surcharge - Siberian Characters' (director: Karl-Heinz Mund) brought a lively encounter with people and the landscape of this area, which is undergoing major changes. Urban planners, geologists, representatives of various professions and nationalities gave open-hearted information in front of the camera about their motives for choosing Siberia as their new home. "

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of October 18, 1975, p. 12
  2. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of September 14, 1976, p. 10
  3. ↑ Neues Deutschland, November 28, 1975, p. 2