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"The chronicle of the children of Golzow, pupils in a village in the Oderbruch region, is the oldest longitu­dinal documentary in film history. 18 films were made over a period of more than four decades, among them "Lebensläufe" (Life Histories, 1980), the best known of the episodes made in socialist East Germany. The new film brings two of the children portrayed back then: Ilona, a skilled electronics worker and later a youth functionary; and Winfried, an electron­ics construction engineer, commander of the militia of a cellulose factory for a while. Aside from political activists Ilona and Winfried, the new film portrays Jürgen, Petra, and Christian. Their life stories on film are shorter, because the filmmak­ers long lost track of them. Now more than 50 years old, Jürgen, a housepainter, today a transport and warehouse worker, and Christian, a fitter-machinist and today the house technician at a government development bank, were all willing to appear in the newest installment. Petra, who like Winfried completed college-prep high school, wanted to become a doctor. She went to Mecklenburg as a construction engineer and dropped out of the series at the early 80th. So her portrait ends before the Wall fell. But the fragmentary quali­ty, with great leaps in time and biographical lacu­nae, has its own interest and raises fascinating ques­tions." Barbara and Winfried Junge

Production: à jour Film- und Fernsehproduktion, RBB

World Sales: Progress Film-Verleih

Screenplay: Barbara und Winfried Junge, based on an idea by Karl Gass

Cinematographer: Hans-Eberhard Leupold, Harald Klix u.a.

Composer: Gerhard Rosenfeld, Kurt Grottke

Sound: Eberhard Schwarz, Hannes Schreier u.a.

Editor: Barbara Junge

Text, Narrator: Winfried Junge

With: Jürgen Fröhlich, Petra Hadlich, Christian Struwe, Ilona Müller, Winfried Jerchel

Format, screen ratio: 35mm, 1:1.37, Color and b/w

Running time: 278 minutes, 24 frames/sec.

Language: German

Foto: © Progress Film-Verleih

Funded by:

  • Logo Minister of State for Culture and the Media
  • Logo des Programms NeuStart Kultur