One Life Under Four German Flags - Production & Contact Info

One Life Under Four German Flags (2008)
Short | 36 min | Documentary, Short, Biography

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One Life Under Four German Flags (2008)

Short | 36 min | Documentary, Short, Biography

Over a period of more than five years, I've conducted interviews with my - now eighty years old - father. In his lifetime, he has experienced four radically differing political systems without ever leaving Germany. The documentary presents...See moreOver a period of more than five years, I've conducted interviews with my - now eighty years old - father. In his lifetime, he has experienced four radically differing political systems without ever leaving Germany. The documentary presents interview footage in which my father, both concisely as well as at length, shares amusing and sad recollections of his life and German history. The interview footage is intercut with archival footage covering important historical events as well as with surveillance video material filmed by the former East German Ministry for State Security. A film project exploring the various ways how history, through both large and insignificant events, be they planned or coincidental, can change and influence a person's life. What would have happened if? The interviews additionally demonstrate how much family memory, in this case, my own recollections within the private sphere, made up of individual memories as well as verbal history, can differ from official historical accounts presented in history classes, distributed by the media and collectively acknowledged by society as a whole. The distinction between accepted cultural history and family memory is the fabric on which the structure of my film is woven. Which is not to imply that the film seeks to prove truth in family memory, accepted cultural history or official history. Rather, I hope that both varying perspectives are presented in such a way as to encourage further constructive discourse. Written by Anonymous See less