OPEN-AIR MOVIE SERIES IN THE COURTYARD: "WOMEN'S FATES"

Curated and hosted by Knut Elstermann

Thursday, July 23, 2026, 9:00 p.m.

And Facing the Future

This 2019 film explores the grim Stalinist legacy that remained unaddressed until the end of the GDR. Director Bernd Böhlich commemorates the thousands of Germans who came to the GDR after spending many years in Stalin’s camps. He tells the story of the communist Antonia Berger (Alexandra Maria Lara), who, after returning to the fledgling republic, was never allowed to speak of her horrific experiences in the Soviet Union. This story is based on the real-life biography of the mother of actress Swetlana Schönfeld, who appeared in the film and recently passed away.

Guests: Bernd Böhlich (director), Annette Leo (historian), and Ilja Niederkirchner (photographer and graphic designer)

Thursday, July 30, 2026, 9:00 p.m.

With Love, Hilde

In his moving film (2024), Andreas Dresen portrays the communist resistance fighter Hilde Coppi as a young woman in love, without a halo. Liv Lisa Fries (“Babylon Berlin”) portrays her with great sensitivity—vulnerable, fearful for her child, yet also brave and determined—a flesh-and-blood human being. This moving film—which also features a brilliant supporting cast—makes it clear that people like Hilde Coppi stand for a different, better Germany, making it a highly relevant work.

Guest: Sina Martens, who plays the resistance fighter Libertas Schulze-Boysen

Thursday, August 6, 2026, 9:00 p.m.

The Fiancée

“The Fiancée” (1980) by Günther Rücker and Günter Reisch, based on the autobiographical novel trilogy by Eva Lippold, is one of the DEFA’s outstanding anti-fascist films. It depicts the fate of the German communist Hella Lindau, who is imprisoned by the Nazis for many years, advocates for her fellow female prisoners there, and longs for her lover, the resistance fighter Hermann Reimers (Regimantas Adomaitis), . The film became a landmark primarily due to Jutta Wachowiak’s deeply human performance, in which grief and loneliness are combined with strength and dignity.

Guest: Jutta Wachowiak (actress)

Curated and hosted by Knut ElstermannTranslated with DeepL

Meeting point: Courtyard; in case of bad weather, in the auditorium

Next date:

• Date Thursday, 23/July/2026 21:00 bis 23:00 ( 2 more dates )
• Venue Museum Pankow - Standort Prenzlauer Allee 227
• Address Prenzlauer Allee 227, 10405 Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg