Räume & The Battle of Tuntenhaus

Walls do not only separate and shield, they also form living spaces that can provide protection and a home. The spaces portrayed in this program are threatened by governmental and right-wing violence as well as Western paternalism. In Helke Misselwitz’ and Petra Tschörtner’s RÄUME the women of the Köstner family are upset about the latter, vent their anger about the derogatory treatment of East Germans – which determined the discourse about “reunification” – and question the supposed freedom and internal borders that continued to exist after the fall of the Wall. THE BATTLE OF TUNTENHAUS takes place in another zone of transgression: here, Mainzer Straße, a center of the squatter scene in the former East Berlin district of Friedrichshain, is not only under (sometimes literal) fire from right-wing radicals. Juliet Bashore is present with a small film crew that documents the clashes around the house for the British television station Channel 4. The then extraordinary union of the autonomous and drag/gay scenes meets the onlooking yet involved sympathizers, who also end up in conflict with the squatters as a result of their filming. The film is a unique testimony to the violent and momentous eviction of people from the street in 1990. (fe)

Program:
RÄUME Helke Misselwitz, Petra Tschörtner FRG 1990 Digital file Original version with English subtitles 12 min.
THE BATTLE OF TUNTENHAUS Juliet Bashore GB 1991 DCP Original version with English subtitles 45 min.