Frauen in Berlin

Chetna Vora began studying directing at the University of Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg in 1976. In 1982, she submitted Women in Berlin as her graduation film for assessment. The film, which was shot almost exclusively indoors and consists of long interviews with women in East Berlin, shows their lives in the German Democratic Republic with rare openness. The protagonists talk about their lives, work, family and relationships. When Chetna Vora refused to shorten her 140-minute raw version to 40 minutes after the first internal screening at the film academy, the working copy and the raw material were confiscated. A VHS copy of Women in Berlin, which the director and her team had secretly produced before the film was confiscated, has been circulating publicly since around 2015. (Nida Ghouse)

Introduction and discussion with Philip Widmann and Nida Ghouse. In English language

Photo: Austrian Film Museum