After studying painting in Dresden, Jürgen Böttcher attended the newly founded German Film Academy in Babelsberg. He was suffused by the unique poetic power of film, which could be obtained from the everyday, a conviction he already held when he arrived at the film school and which he continued to refine, such as by exploring Neorealism or “the old Russians”. His understanding of film ended up leading to a farreaching renewal in the DEFA documentary but also brought him into constant conflict with cultural policy. All the films we are showing on the first evening were banned.
