To mark this year's 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, interfilm Berlin has created a five part short film programme that extensively addresses events surrounding the construction and demise of the Berlin Wall, providing a complex insight into the Cold War period.

The Programme Look at this City reveals a Berlin in which the contrary clichés associated with each of the German states were reinforced: Freedom and democracy on one side, social achievements and proletariat dictatorship on the other. The films in this programme attest to the warlike strategies of both sides while pursuing ironic and cynical reactions. Selected films include DEFA DISCO Film – Berlin (1977) and Walter Heynowski’s Hüben und Drüben (1964).
Spies, guns and ideology abound in films taken from East Germany’s Ministry for State Security archives, showing Stasi internal training films that rehearse the disintegration of the class enemy. The films were all shot on Super8 and will appear in the programme A State in Panic, screening with English subtitles for the first time.

The sheer magnitude of the Stasi’s infiltration into the private sphere first emerged after the “Wende” through access to files and the dissolution of the MfS (Ministry for State Security). Just nominated for the German Short Film Award, the photo-film Cyclist by Marc Thümmler, documents the Stasi surveillance photographer Harald Hauswald was subjected to while Free Country (2008), shows a family under State pressure in an emotionally authentic way. Both films can be seen in Stasi Up Close.

The programme Everyday between the Fronts bears witness to diverse filmmaker’s attempts at subtle forms of critique, which sometimes succeeded but more often than not led to prohibition or exile. Barefoot and Hatless (1964) is a documentary masterpiece by Jürgen Böttchern, about teenagers at the Baltic Sea and Just a Quarter Hour (1964), uses statistics and satire to shed light on GDR visions and the 60’s.

Extraordinary and unique footage combined with good music is brought together in the programme, Rock the Wall. In addition to classic music videos from the East and West, from musicians such as Silly, Pudhys and Rio Reiser, there’s a “Stasi hit“, experimental films as well as a variety of historically interesting happenings that occurred at the Wall.

The city stroll with A Wall Is A Screen is sure to be a spectacular event: The Hamburg short film activists transform house facades into screens, during which the urban environment, the film and in this case even the absent Wall, all become one. The short film stroll is free of charge and encompasses several locations in Berlin Mitte. Everyone is welcome to participate, even casual passersby. Starting at Tränenpalast on 7 Nov. at 6pm. - Find more about