Young Hearts – Adolescents in post-reunification cinema

In an echo of the Retrospective, coming-of-age will also be the topic of the films selected for streaming on the Deutsche Kinemathek website from January 15 to April 14, 2023. Nine narrative and documentary films chosen from the Kinemathek archives tell stories of young people who rebelled against society’s expectations, and not always lawfully.

In ‘Ostkreuz’ (1991), Michael Klier gives us 15-year-old Elfie, who is expected to suddenly grow up after the Berlin Wall comes down. She does whatever she can to get money for a security deposit on an apartment and, along the way, meets marginalised people like petty thug Darius and unhoused Edmund. Lead actor Laura Tonke is convincing as a young person amid the complete loss of orientation that came with the fall of the wall. In the 2002 ‘School Trip’, director Henner Winckler takes an authentic and sensitive look at the relationships between a group of young people that intensify on a school trip.

Michael Klier, Laura Tonke and Henner Winckler in discussion with Rainer Rother and Anke Hahn about working with young actors, and the appeal of coming-of-age films, their protagonists, and stories set at the brink of growing up.

Anke Hahn and Rainer Rother will be moderating

→ In German ǀ free admittance