Crossing the Border: 75 Years of Germany

CROSSING THE BORDER tells the stirring stories of people whose lives were decisively shaped by the Berlin Wall and the border that divided Germany for over 40 years. They share their personal memories of flight, transit traffic and expulsions and shed light on a chapter in German history that affects the lives of many to this day.

Year

2024

Length

90 min

Directors

Steffi Lischke & Frank Diederichs

The film relies on intimate interviews and graphic novel elements that interweave with colorized archive material to create an atmospheric portrayal of the postwar period in Germany.

The inner-German border was 1.378 kilometers long and millions tried to cross it, hundreds of lives were lost while trying. Fashion designer Wolfgang Joop, born in 1944, tells how he grew up on in Potsdam, East-Germany. After his family fled, he became world-famous in the West and later, after a deal with the GDR authorities, was allowed to travel freely across the border in turn for helping the socialist regime design their uniforms. Songwriter Reinhard Mey, on the other hand, fought for years to be allowed to perform in the GDR. Only when the Wall was already crumbling was he allowed to do what he had dreamed of for years: to sing in Dresden, Saxony. Another episode tells the story of Barbara Galonska who is unexpectedly given the choice in 1978 of leaving East-Germany from one day to the other – as a passenger on an airplane hijacked to the West.

All of the stories are unique eyewitness reports that add up to a chapter of contemporary history that is still relevant today as it is profoundly intertwined with questions of German identity.

Credits

Directed by

Frank Diederichs
Steffi Lischke

Cinematographer

René Dame
Martin Bochmann

Editor

Jens Greuner

Sound

Henry Leikauf-Dürheim
Felix Schlag
Alexander Pohl

Gaffer

Hans Ulrich Graefe

Graphic Novel

Rainer Ludwigs

Speakers

Beatrix Hermens
Philipp Moog

Color grading

Bernie Greiner

Mix/Sound Design

Sascha Prangen

Archive Producer

Florian Tropp

Postproduction

Leon Schwarz
Alexander Steyer

Producer

Nadine Neumann

Executive Producer

Reinhardt Beetz

Production Management

Philipp Müller

Commissioning editors ZDF

Stefan Mausbach
Mario Sporn
Stefan Brauburger

Archives

Bundesarchiv
BStU
Castan Filmkontor
Chronos Media
Erbengemeinschaft Franz Joseph Schreiber
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
Getty Images
IMAGO Images
Periscope Film
Pond5
PROGRESS
Spiegel TV
TRIANOmedien

In Gedenken an Barbara Galonska

Sales & distribution

Crossing the Border: 75 Years of Germany

Trailer

„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