1989 is known as the year that changed the world. Thirty years ago, the Berlin Wall collapsed. Thirty years ago, Eastern Europe was shaken by the democratic revolution, which became the point of non-return. "When my neighbors build democracy" are five stories about Revolutions of 1989 and their main participants, who started the deconstruction of the communist system.

Q&A after the screening

The Christmas Gift

Bogdan Muresanu

Romania / 2018, 23 min

On 20th of December, 1989, a few days after Ceausescu's bloody repression in Timisoara, a father’s quiet evening turns to sheer ordeal as he finds out that his little son has mailed a wish letter to Santa. As the kid understood, his father’s desire was to see Ceausescu dead.

From Solidarity to Freedom

Krystyna Mokrosińska

Poland / 37 min

Based on archival materials, the history of Poland's path to freedom, from Yalta to "Solidarity", the fall of communism, and joining the EU.

Babovka

Demet Derelioglu Aran

Czech Republic / 2018, 8 min

Eva struggles to communicate her son but he becomes more distant day by day. One day she goes to his room when he left, and she realizes that her son is the one of the demonstrators against communism. Through behavior changes on her son, on an autumn day Eva learns that the communist regime has fallen, and the velvet revolution has just begun in Czechoslovakia

Stremt 89

Anda Puscas

Romania / 2012, 13 min

The road through Stremt ends in a mountain wall. Still, in 1989, people were eagerly awaiting army tanks, terrorists and glory. Today, partly forgotten and partly imagined, the past is crystal clear.

Freedom

Mircea Bobina

Moldova / 2018, 4 min

People are unhappy with their leaders and want to break free. When a change is made, they are supposed to get back their freedom: but somehow, they don’t.

Flatworld

Daniel Greaves

UK / 1997, 28 min

Matt Phlatt, along with his pet cat Geoff and his fish, Chips live in a world where everyone is "flat".

Ponpon

Fabien Drouet

France / 1999, 5 min

A dog rushes out of a house. He crosses the road in front of a truck. Helpless and about to be knocked over, Ponpon sees his life pass before his eyes.

The Tram No. 9 Goes On

Stepan Koval

Ukraine / 2002, 11 min

A morning tram over-occupied with passengers, but more and more people are trying to get in there.

Milk

Igor Kovalyov

USA / 2005, 15 min

Milk is a short film about a boy discovering his father’s affair. The story is told from the boy’s perspective and it unfolds in a dark and disturbing manner and brings out the child’s depressing childhood experience.

Over Time

Oury Atlan, Thibaut Berland, Damien Ferrie

France / 2004, 5 min

A lone, spotlighted puppet raises a trumpet to his lips, playing a klezmer-like solo. A man has died. But the trumpeter and his friends don't realize that their creator has passed away.

The Traveller

Johan Pollefoort

Belgium / 2007, 6 min

The traveller cries: "Woe betide those who are happy with their lot".

Feral

Daniel Sousa

USA / 2012, 13 min

A wild child, raised by wolves, is forced to reconnect with humanity and conform to a society he can barely comprehend.

Women’s Letters

Augusto Zanovello

France / 2013, 11 min

On the battle fields of the First World War, the nurse Simon patches up the shattered faces of the infantrymen with love letters. These words from beloved women have the power to heal the wounds of these paper soldiers.

Late Season

Daniela Leitner

Austria / 2017, 7 min

A long-married couple seem to have lost their affections for one another. One day at the beach, after falling asleep, something incredible happens with them — something that re-kindles their long lost romantic feelings.

Cyclists

Veljko Popovic

Croatia / 2018, 7 min

The cycling season is nearing its grand finale. During the final race, the two men in the lead are competing for more than the Grand Trophy; they are fi ghting for the affection of a lady and fulfilment of their erotic fantasies. Meanwhile, the small port town prepares for the arrival of a large ocean liner and its dashing captain.

Merlot

Marta Gennari, Giulia Martinelli

Italy / 2016, 6 min

In a blue fairy-tale forest, a grumpy granny loses a bottle of wine. This event will give rise to a crescendo of linked events.

The fall of the Berlin Wall – a turning point. An event which has marked and inspired generations, changed history – its aftermath can still be felt today. But the question remains: how do we look at each other? What effect do borders have on us? And how can we reclaim the space that is ours?

Q&A after the screening

Wagah

Supriyo Sen

Germany / 2009, 13 min

Each night the only border crossing between India and Pakistan on a 1000km stretch becomes the sight of an extraordinary event. Thousands of people gather to witness the ritual closing of the border, after which the masses get as close as possible to the gate to greet their former neighbors. This "festival" is therefore on the one hand a celebration of the partition, but on the other hand also the only connecting element. What do the terms separation, home and proximity mean to the people on both sides?

Flag Mountain

John Smith

UK / 2010, 8 min

A view across the border in Nicosia, the divided capital of Cyprus. The camera looks over the rooftops of the Greek Cypriot south to the mountains of the Turkish Republic in the north, where a display of nationalism is enhanced by filmic means.

489 Years

Hayoun Kwon

France / 2016, 11 min

489 Years shows an animated landscape of the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, based on the narration of a former soldier who had entered the DMZ­–one of the most dangerous and heavily armed places in the world.

Symbolic Threats

Mischa Leinkauf, Matthias Wermke, Lutz Henke

Germany / 2015, 15 min

On the night of 22 July 2014, two filmmakers hoist two white American flags on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. They take the US flags down and fold them in the prescribed orderly fashion. Poetry or threat? An act of surrender or perhaps art? What happens when threatened freedom reinstates art with the element of danger? Who or what makes it into a threat?

Ein-blick

Gerd Conradt

Germany / 1986, 10 min

A film camera looks back and forth between a house in West Berlin and a house in East Berlin for twelve hours, taking one picture a second. The Wall runs between the two houses.

Cycling the Frame

Cynthia Beatt

Germany / 1988, 28 min

This is a short film about the Berlin Wall back in 1988 when West Berlin was still an isolated fiefdom of the capitalist west, located 125 miles behind the Iron Curtain in communist eastern Europe. The film follows a young girl and her thoughts as she circumnavigates West Berlin alongside the 96 mile long, iconic, symbol of the cold war.