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Edda Chiemnyjewski, a freelance press photographer and single mother living in 1970s West Berlin, is confronted with the fact that "a cook has no time for affairs of state". She also fails to find a market for the project she has been working on with her women’s photography group that seeks to document the city. While from today's perspective the city, which becomes one of the film's protagonists, looks like post-war Berlin, little has actually changed as regards the precarious existence of free-lancers. With a heavy dose of self-irony Helke Sander, who also plays the leading role, tells of a divided life in a divided city.
Helke Sander was born in 1937, later studying and doing theatre work in Helsinki. Following her return to Berlin, she studied film at the dffb. In 1968, she was one of the founders of the "Action Council for the Liberation of Women". Her films include A Bonus for Irene (Forum 1971), Die allseitig reduzierte Perönlichkeit - Redupers (Forum 1978), Der subjektive Faktor und Mitten im Malestream. Helke Sander taught film at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg and also works as a writer.
Production: Basis-Film, ZDF
Camera: Katia Forbert
Format: 35mm, b/w
Running Time: 98 min.
Language: German
