A Thousand Endless Tales – Dancing the Line of Flight
(Story Telling)

Jiří Kolář, Ostrava 2008, from: Die Heizer – Tschechische Kunst und Widerstand 1950 bis 1989 // 2007-08

Rudolf Valenta, Prague 2007, from: Die Heizer – Tschechische Kunst und Widerstand 1950 bis 1989 // 2007-08

Věra Jirousová, Prague 2008, from: Die Heizer – Tschechische Kunst und Widerstand 1950 bis 1989 // 2007-08

Jaroslav Hutka, Prague 2008, from: Die Heizer – Tschechische Kunst und Widerstand 1950 bis 1989 // 2007-08

Wir waren das Kino // 2010

Wir waren das Kino / We were cinema

2010, video-projection, sound, 7:40 min

A lot has been reported about the Fall of the Berlin Wall. The main focus of this film is the period before, affected by discontent with the outdated political system, hope and a sense of impending change.

Former theatre directors, film projectionists, cashiers, ushers and caretakers who used to work in cinemas in Dresden in the period before 1989 talk about their experiences during that time.

Everyday life in the cinema was different from that in West Germany. The cinemas were often economically unprofitable, employees however were frequently cinema enthusiasts. Those who had political problems elsewhere often found employment in the cinema, in less qualified positions though as stokers or ushers.

The time before 1989 from the viewpoint of the cinema staff, their view on the events, the social and political changes that were happening outside the cinema doors. The position of those sitting and discussing in the foyer, in the gap between fiction on the screen and reality beyond the cinema doors.

Topics of conversation besides the films were the obsolete political system and the utopia of changing the system from within. How political events manifest themselves in everyday life, how small changes and incidences announced the Wende.