Trailer
Year
2011
Length
90 min
Director
Pamela Meyer-Arndt
Village Love
a dramatic and thrilling story about the people of the village Berka and how they have repea- tedly attempted to, in a post-war period, under the pressure of socialism, during the unification of Germany and currently as citizens of the Republik of Germany, establish and maintain an existence.
The so called „flat-land“ of Thuringia is unknown to most people. The rural areas of the former DDR seem to be big black holes in the middle of nothing. A no-mans-land. Here in the area of Kyffhäuserkreis lies the small village Berka. It’s close to the river Wipper and home to approximately 800 people.
More or less by coincidence three outstanding photo series originate from here, documenting the life of the villagers over decades. Surprisingly the pictures show, in large parts, a paradise, in which the villagers live and work together happily. A village idyll.
The documentary film VILLAGE LOVE depicts the thuringian village of Berka in it’s transition over time, from 1949 to 2006. Two photographers, Ludwig Schirmer and Werner Mahler, photographed Berka over two decades. Their poetic photo series, depicting a functioning village community, are the basis of this film.
Written and directed by
Pamela Meyer-Arndt
Cinemathography
Peter Badel (bvk)
Editor
Gudrun Steinbrück
Sound Recordist
Jürgen Schönhoff
Composer
Mario Schneider
Cornelius Renz
Sound Designer
Hans Schumann (BVFT)
Sound Mixing
Studio Mitte
Jörg Höhne
Producer
Maria Wischnewski
Executive Producer
Christian Beetz
Line Producer
Kathrin Isberner
Line Producer MDR
Frank Egner
Editorial MDR
Beate Schönfeld
Sales & distribution
- Press kit
- Press photos
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„Just in diesem Moment überraschen uns die aus dem Theaterbereich stammenden jungen Regisseure Hans Block und Moritz Riesewieck mit einem erstaunlichen Dokumentarfilm, der seit Monaten Publikum und Kritik auf den wichtigsten Festivals der Welt elektrisiert. Völlig zu Recht: Es ist, als würden einem die Scheuklappen weggerissen, als sähe man das, was sich seit Jahren direkt vor unseren Augen abspielt, zum ersten Mal unverschleiert... eine fesselnde ,Doku noir' mit höchstem Anspruch...Dieser Film müsste an allen Schulen gezeigt werden.“
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
17.05.2018
