Wed November 19, 2014
Films at Goethe: Out in East Berlin - Lesbians and Gays in the GDR
SEE EVENT DETAILS
at Goethe-Institut San Francisco
(see times)
25 Years after the Berlin Wall:
Out in East Berlin - Lesbians and Gays in the GDR
Directed by Jochen Hick and Andreas Strohfeldt (Germany, 98 min., 2013)
Paragraph 175, which made homosexual behavior punishable by law, was abolished in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1968. At that time, heterosexual nuclear families constituted the center of socialist society, and homosexuality was considered a peripheral issue in the GDR. "Out in East Berlin—Lesbians and Gays in the GDR" tells the impressive-to-absurd personal histories of gay men and lesbians in the GDR, from the post WWII years until the fall of the Berlin Wall. The experiences of lesbians and gays, on the path to a self-conscious, out sexual identity shared one specific and sinister perspective: they were accompanied by the watchful eye of the Ministry of State Security (Stasi), which recorded their actions in the bedroom and in innumerable personal files. The founders of East Berlin’s LGBT movement, the “Terrorlesben (Terror Lesbians)” from Prenzlauer Berg, gay communists, and gays in church groups, all wanted to change the system and hoped for a society in which they could be more open about their sexuality. Some applied to leave the GDR for West Germany when they no longer believed that they could find equality and freedom from surveillance at home.
Through compelling interviews with lesbians and gays—from those who were activists to those who collaborated—filmmakers Jochen Hick and Andreas Strohfeldt elucidate the struggles of queer life in the GDR, in which citizens were monitored and spied upon. In addition, some East German gays and lesbians were pressured to betray the cause of homosexual emancipation. Using historical material never shown before, Out in East Berlin creates a fascinating, character-driven portrait of a nascent queer underground, which grew despite the strict tenets of mainstream socialist society—a society that, ironically, sought to create freedom for all of its citizens.
German with English subtitles
Suggested donation $5
show less
Out in East Berlin - Lesbians and Gays in the GDR
Directed by Jochen Hick and Andreas Strohfeldt (Germany, 98 min., 2013)
Paragraph 175, which made homosexual behavior punishable by law, was abolished in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1968. At that time, heterosexual nuclear families constituted the center of socialist society, and homosexuality was considered a peripheral issue in the GDR. "Out in East Berlin—Lesbians and Gays in the GDR" tells the impressive-to-absurd personal histories of gay men and lesbians in the GDR, from the post WWII years until the fall of the Berlin Wall. The experiences of lesbians and gays, on the path to a self-conscious, out sexual identity shared one specific and sinister perspective: they were accompanied by the watchful eye of the Ministry of State Security (Stasi), which recorded their actions in the bedroom and in innumerable personal files. The founders of East Berlin’s LGBT movement, the “Terrorlesben (Terror Lesbians)” from Prenzlauer Berg, gay communists, and gays in church groups, all wanted to change the system and hoped for a society in which they could be more open about their sexuality. Some applied to leave the GDR for West Germany when they no longer believed that they could find equality and freedom from surveillance at home.
Through compelling interviews with lesbians and gays—from those who were activists to those who collaborated—filmmakers Jochen Hick and Andreas Strohfeldt elucidate the struggles of queer life in the GDR, in which citizens were monitored and spied upon. In addition, some East German gays and lesbians were pressured to betray the cause of homosexual emancipation. Using historical material never shown before, Out in East Berlin creates a fascinating, character-driven portrait of a nascent queer underground, which grew despite the strict tenets of mainstream socialist society—a society that, ironically, sought to create freedom for all of its citizens.
German with English subtitles
Suggested donation $5
25 Years after the Berlin Wall:
Out in East Berlin - Lesbians and Gays in the GDR
Directed by Jochen Hick and Andreas Strohfeldt (Germany, 98 min., 2013)
Paragraph 175, which made homosexual behavior punishable by law, was abolished in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1968. At that time, heterosexual nuclear families constituted the center of socialist society, and homosexuality was considered a peripheral issue in the GDR. "Out in East Berlin—Lesbians and Gays in the GDR" tells the impressive-to-absurd personal histories of gay men and lesbians in the GDR, from the post WWII years until the fall of the Berlin Wall. The experiences of lesbians and gays, on the path to a self-conscious, out sexual identity shared one specific and sinister perspective: they were accompanied by the watchful eye of the Ministry of State Security (Stasi), which recorded their actions in the bedroom and in innumerable personal files. The founders of East Berlin’s LGBT movement, the “Terrorlesben (Terror Lesbians)” from Prenzlauer Berg, gay communists, and gays in church groups, all wanted to change the system and hoped for a society in which they could be more open about their sexuality. Some applied to leave the GDR for West Germany when they no longer believed that they could find equality and freedom from surveillance at home.
Through compelling interviews with lesbians and gays—from those who were activists to those who collaborated—filmmakers Jochen Hick and Andreas Strohfeldt elucidate the struggles of queer life in the GDR, in which citizens were monitored and spied upon. In addition, some East German gays and lesbians were pressured to betray the cause of homosexual emancipation. Using historical material never shown before, Out in East Berlin creates a fascinating, character-driven portrait of a nascent queer underground, which grew despite the strict tenets of mainstream socialist society—a society that, ironically, sought to create freedom for all of its citizens.
German with English subtitles
Suggested donation $5
read more
Out in East Berlin - Lesbians and Gays in the GDR
Directed by Jochen Hick and Andreas Strohfeldt (Germany, 98 min., 2013)
Paragraph 175, which made homosexual behavior punishable by law, was abolished in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1968. At that time, heterosexual nuclear families constituted the center of socialist society, and homosexuality was considered a peripheral issue in the GDR. "Out in East Berlin—Lesbians and Gays in the GDR" tells the impressive-to-absurd personal histories of gay men and lesbians in the GDR, from the post WWII years until the fall of the Berlin Wall. The experiences of lesbians and gays, on the path to a self-conscious, out sexual identity shared one specific and sinister perspective: they were accompanied by the watchful eye of the Ministry of State Security (Stasi), which recorded their actions in the bedroom and in innumerable personal files. The founders of East Berlin’s LGBT movement, the “Terrorlesben (Terror Lesbians)” from Prenzlauer Berg, gay communists, and gays in church groups, all wanted to change the system and hoped for a society in which they could be more open about their sexuality. Some applied to leave the GDR for West Germany when they no longer believed that they could find equality and freedom from surveillance at home.
Through compelling interviews with lesbians and gays—from those who were activists to those who collaborated—filmmakers Jochen Hick and Andreas Strohfeldt elucidate the struggles of queer life in the GDR, in which citizens were monitored and spied upon. In addition, some East German gays and lesbians were pressured to betray the cause of homosexual emancipation. Using historical material never shown before, Out in East Berlin creates a fascinating, character-driven portrait of a nascent queer underground, which grew despite the strict tenets of mainstream socialist society—a society that, ironically, sought to create freedom for all of its citizens.
German with English subtitles
Suggested donation $5
show less
Date/Times:
Goethe-Institut San Francisco
530 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA CA 94108
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