Kurt - You Shall Laugh

There’s an oak tree that was familiar to everyone who used to drive along the highway just south of Berlin. Until 2004, it stood between the small suburban town of Ludwigsfelde and the intersection at Nuthetal. In the times of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), it took one hour to drive – in one of the famous East German “Trabant” cars – from the position of the tree to the East Berlin city center, which is why it was called the One-Hour Oak Tree. When the famous oak so steeped in history was cut down, the idea emerged to turn it into a sculpture.

Documentary by Gerd Kroske.

A documentary about the tragic life of the forgotten German comedian Heino Jäger.

Only two months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, in January 1990, almost two hundred controversial East German visual and performance artists—including Jürgen Böttcher, the Autoperforation Artists, AG Geige, Via Lewandowsky, Trak Wendisch, Conny Hege, Klaus Killisch, Helga Paris and Hanns Schimansky—presented works rarely shown in the GDR at the exhibition space in the former La Villette slaughterhouses on the outskirts of Paris.

The documentary tells the life story of the boxer Norbert Grupe, who was known by his fighting name Prince of Homburg.

In the 80’s, new border barrier systems were used in the former GDR. The escape attempts with cars towards West Germany increased. Metal workers and Stasi (Ministry for State Security) are working hand in hand for the defence against “terrorism” in order to prevent escape attempts. In conspiratorial work they created new barriers after their actual working hours. Crash tests for the defence against terrorism, collisions for the case of emergency. Cars crashing into the new barricades, leaving a total loss. From the mid-80s those barriers were installed at all border crossing points. BOUNDS is about the motivation of all who were involved, from tragic ending escapes and gives insight into the German engineering ingenuity and the military spirit.

Gabi, Stefan and Henry used to work as street-sweepers for the city of Leipzig. A ruin is all that is left of the Municipal Street Cleaning Base of that time and the city Leipzig is moving after the reunion. The noise of air hammers are everywhere. Nowadays their daily routine has become fragile between social welfare office, pub, and their homes. There is always a remainder, something that doesn´t work out even.

„I began documenting their lives, if only because I hoped each film would have a happy ending.“ (Gerd Kroske)

The place: the outskirts of Hamburg, a flat, two rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom. The time: one day and the passing night. Wolfgang “Wolli” Köhler, former owner of a porn-cinema and a brothel, turned poet and illustrator, lives here with his wife Linda. Scenes of cohabitation. Scenes from a life together. Reminiscences of an existence that has led them from Waldheim in Saxony to St. Pauli in Hamburg. Insights into the abject wretchedness of the sex industry. The underworld of covert backyard meetings before the advent of AIDS. Prejudices are undermined, preconceptions challenged. Wolli takes a trip down his own personal “memory lane”.

Leipzig is in a period of change. The uproar of Autumn ’89 is followed by a hectic electoral campaign in Spring ’90. Nightly conversations with street sweepers are dominated by hopelessness and broken self-confidence, but one can also recognise a keen sense for the change in social climate following the political unification in the GDR. Despite their lack of illusions, they have an acute view of their surroundings, and for these street sweepers only one certainty prevails: there will always be dirt.