Curated and hosted by Knut Elstermann
And Looking Toward the Future on Thursday, July 23, 2026, at 9:00 p.m. This 2019 film tells the story of the grim Stalinist legacy that was never fully addressed until the end of the GDR.
Image gallery
Bezirksmuseum Pankow
Director Bernd Böhlich commemorates the thousands of Germans who came to the GDR after spending many years in Stalin’s camps. He tells the story of the communist Antonia Berger (Alexandra Maria Lara), who, after returning to the fledgling republic, was never allowed to speak of her horrific experiences in the Soviet Union. This story is based on the real-life biography of the mother of actress Swetlana Schönfeld, who appeared in the film and recently passed away.
Guests: Bernd Böhlich (director), Annette Leo (historian), and Ilja Niederkirchner (photographer and graphic designer)
Thursday, July 30, 2026, 9:00 p.m.
With Love, Hilde
In his moving film (2024), Andreas Dresen portrays the communist resistance fighter Hilde Coppi as a young woman in love, without a halo. Liv Lisa Fries (“Babylon Berlin”) portrays her with great sensitivity—vulnerable, fearful for her child, yet also brave and determined—a flesh-and-blood human being. This moving film, featuring a brilliant cast even in the supporting roles, makes it clear: People like Hilde Coppi stand for a different, better Germany, making this a highly relevant work.
Guest: Sina Martens, who plays the resistance fighter Libertas Schulze-Boysen.
Thursday, August 6, 2026, 9:00 p.m.
The Fiancée
“The Fiancée” (1980) by Günther Rücker and Günter Reisch, based on the autobiographical novel trilogy by Eva Lippold, is one of DEFA’s outstanding anti-fascist films. It depicts the fate of the German communist Hella Lindau, who is imprisoned by the Nazis for many years, advocates for her fellow female prisoners there, and longs for her lover, the resistance fighter Hermann Reimers (Regimantas Adomaitis). The film became a landmark event primarily due to Jutta Wachowiak’s deeply human performance, in which grief and loneliness are intertwined with strength and dignity.
Guest: Jutta Wachowiak (actress)
Curated and hosted by Knut Elstermann
