Frauen in Berlin

The setting is simple: women of various ages talk in front of the camera in East Berlin about everything that moves them—their relationships, having children, what it means to be a woman, work, expectations and disappointments, the lives they’ve already lived and the future they hope for. Sometimes you hear director Chetna Vora asking a question in voiceover, but mostly the women simply speak—openly and candidly, in a familiar and friendly atmosphere, sitting in their own apartments or in their gardens. Originally from India, director Chetna Vora studied film directing at the University of Film and Television in Babelsberg. FRAUEN IN BERLIN was intended to be her graduation film, but was rejected by the university administration. She refused their demands to cut her 140-minute film down to half an hour, whereupon it was confiscated. The long-lost film survived only in a rough cut that had been recorded from the screen onto VHS and was recently restored by the KONRAD WOLF Film University Babelsberg. (Annette Lingg)