Charlotte Beck

A sequence of nine individual biographical sketches with a prologue and epilogue on Golzow and the long-term observation. Deepening of the preceding chronicle. The Golzow people in the present, from which retrospective views of the previous life and the life conflicts of the individual are given.

Becoming old - the autumn of man's life is the same the world over, wherever he lives. But the way one spends old age is different everywhere, and distinguishes one society from another. How do senior citizens live in the GDR - what are pensioners lives like? Are they alone, forgotten or do they live with others? What is done in this country for the older generation, the generation which built up the country and which can now sit back?

The first summarizing film about the path of the class and the common stations in life. But also about the different paths in the profession, in love, marriage and family. As well as a soldier. A group chronicle, viewed from the historical distance of the 35th year of the end of the 2nd World War and after 18 years of shooting in peace, which ensured everyone the first human right: they were allowed to live.

A class reunion of the twenty-somethings in the old school. What one remembers, what the individual has new to tell. One of them: Marieluise. Her love, her work, her demands on herself and the world into which she is coming of age.

Löffler, a young teacher, strives to deal with his 6th form pupils as partners and in an anti-authorian manner. The film discovers a person who - without the least fear of making mistakes - distrusts the prevalent way.

A documentary dedicated to the 10th World Festival of Youth and Students held in East Berlin in the summer of 1973.

In this film about apprentices of the Rewatex laundry, Böttcher once again turns to the focal concern of almost all his films the attempt to report as truthfully and impressibly as possible on the life of workers. Böttcher takes the audience into the midst of a seemingly unknown environment only to let them realize how familiar this world in fact is.

The final exam of sixteen and seventeen year olds at the end of the 10th grade. The individual in the minutes in which he is supposed to show what he can do and who he is. A last class party before the community ends and one goes apart.

They are now no longer children. Young citizens distinguish themselves. The time before the Jugendweihe and its celebration. They visit Weimar, the former Sachsenhausen concentration camp, the Schwedt petrochemical combine, and decide to go into business after the eighth grade, stay until the tenth, or take the Abitur in the district town.

Documentary short.

Portrait of Interflug airline captain Günter Schneider.

The age group in a group portrait of the fifth grade. They make suggestions for filming at school, in their free time and at home. Growing challenges through the lessons that bring knowledge and new questions and broaden their horizons.

Young women made up only five per cent of students at the technical college in Ilmenau. The film devotes itself of this particular situation by conveying impressions of the women's everyday lives.

Summertime in Prerow at the Baltic Sea. A cheerful film with the spirit of the sixties.

Poetic documentary short about people learning all over the world.

How the class community is formed. The children's environment and the experiences and discoveries that the school gives them. They are reflected in the lessons. At the end of the school year they receive their first report card and are "Young Pioneers".

At the Eisenhüttenkombinat Ost an der Oder, a new blast furnace is being moved to replace a burnt-out one. 2000 tons have to be moved 18 meters: Three times we hear it in the commentary. Master Klaus is now in command. His orders are to be obeyed at all costs. Men at work: tense faces, examining hands, the sound of screeching winds and steel cables stretched to breaking point. Everything is going well, and it is a new best performance: The downtime of the plant has been reduced from 80 to 40 days, the commentary says.

Böttchers film showcases three young workers who learn how to paint, draw, and make sculptures out of stone. The film generated a storm of mistrust, as there is no leading communist party, and the three individuals live blithely and independently of the official dictates. It became one of the first DEFA documentary productions that were not allowed to be shown.

This documentary, intended to inspire new home filmmakers, tells the stories of ordinary people who learned how to make their own films by renting inexpensive AK 8 cameras. A young couple documents their vacation on the Baltic Sea, a garden plot community celebrates a party, and comrades from a sports club even film themselves playing cards underwater. The film's sarcastically humerous commentary on everyday life plays with clichés and taboos.