Klaus Manzek

A story about two young lovers in an East German coal mining town.

"I'm walking through my city...", sings a cheerful pop singer. She fervently praises the new metropolis of East Berlin. As an emphatically lively, often anthemically condensed revue, the film tells of the "growth and development of our new capital". Accompanied by cheerful music, the camera indulges in high-altitude views, shows squares whose fountains, benches and green spaces are designed to make you forget that you are in a big city, as well as visitors from all over the world in top hotels. An emphatically cheerful, yet meaningful insight into the brave new GDR world.

The director describes the everyday life of a little boy who, as a "latchkey kid," has to spend the afternoon alone until his father finally comes home in the evening. The mother, for whom the boy makes a letter the following day, seems to have left the family.

A 360° shot from Schönhauser Allee reveals Stargarder Straße 3A’s neglected courtyard, where tenants, spurred by community leader Michalski, restore its greenery. Built in 1900 as a social-democratic workers’ cooperative, “the red block” once housed activists, ran its own kindergarten and summer fêtes. Wartime saw Nazi block wards, Post-’45 resident Bruno return, and ’50s festivals fade. By the ’60s, tenant turnover and mixed generations reshaped its life. Now, the film crew’s presence reunites residents for the first courtyard celebration since 1952, closing past and present.

The story of a love affair: from meeting and the great ease at the beginning to everyday married life and separation at the end. Documentary observations (of passers-by on the street, newly in love, first without, then with children) and dramatized scenes (of marriage and divorce) are mixed, casting different actors in the roles of the man and woman.