‘East Side Stories – A Generation’s Perspectives’: The MDR Documentary lets five non-traditional artists tell the East of the present

Between the ages of 30 and 40, they are engaged in the cultural sector, they stand on stage, write texts or design art – and live in East Germany. East Germany and reunification are part of her autobiography, but unlike her parents’ generation, it is not the dominant theme in life.

Bitterfeld singer, Pascal Bock from the band Goitzsche Front, artist Henrike Naumann from Zwickau, composer Martin Kohlstedt from Weimar, director Anne Zohra Berrached from Erfurt, rapper Sookee from Pasewalk – they all tell in “East Side Stories” about your life plans What are the topics on your mind today and what visions do you have.

The movie gives them a space to talk. Heroes lead through their own world. No comment text, no archival photos, and hardly any interviews. The five tell us how they found their own spaces and themes, but they also talk about exclusion, how to deal with clichés and role models and about their ambivalent relationship with their homeland. The reflection of the new generation of (artists) in East Germany emerges from the five single images.

Pascal Buck (born in 1988) from Peterfield stayed in his notorious homeland. He accepted Bitterfeld as a mission and made Pride of the City in the East his theme. “Goitzsche Front” is the name of his band. A declaration of love for the Goitzsche open-air mine, which is now a vacation spot.

Henrik Neumann (born in 1984) She encountered oaths early in her hometown of Zwickau. Her experiences in the East German provinces after the fall of the Wall flow into her artwork: Wall Units, NSU, Bad Taste, Ostalgie. Their items now occupy museums and galleries all over Germany.

Anne Zahra Brashed (born in 1982) from Erfurt caused quite a stir in 2017 with her film “24 Weeks” on the topic of banned late abortion. In her films, the daughter of an Algerian guest worker often pushes her heroines to their limits. Your current movie, The World Will Be Different, focuses on the wife of a 9/11 killer.

Suki (born 1983) from Bass Walk comes from a splinter family. After her family had to leave the GDR for political reasons in 1986, she grew up “in the West”. As a rapper, she has caused quite a stir for years with feminist and anti-capitalist statements in the male-dominated hip-hop scene.

Martin Colstead (born in 1988) lives in Weimar. The small town gives him support after a long concert tour around the world. He needs nature to feel his roots and strike new ones – for example in his own plot of forest in Thuringia.

“East Side Stories – Jill’s Perspectives” – from October 3rd at ARD . media library And on October 14 at 11:40 pm on MDR TV.