Kathrin Unger

A crew from the U.S. intends to film a war drama at an abandoned sugar factory on the remote outskirts of a German city, making the nearby town, which had been a pool of stagnant water, seem to come to life. The residents are excited, each making their own little plans, until a tank pulls up in front of the mayor's house and a sudden power outage disrupts all plans.

Two craftspeople, Uli and Didi, are working on a swastika in their workshop. Somewhere between a rural idyll and the monotony of country life, they wonder about the strange newcomers to their village.

What does it mean to live in a neighborhood? What does the place where you live mean to you? Who lives next-door? In the summer of 2017, 140 people who live on and around Rosa-Luxemburg Platz in Berlin's 'Mitte' district were interviewed. These conversations were turned into a series of short films that provide personal insights into diverse lives. Behind each door there's a different story: long-standing Mitte dwellers, founders of start-ups, centenarians, globetrotters, those pining for the old East Germany, and students. There are people who have lived here for two months or sixty years; people who grew up in what used to be East or West Germany, in Latin America, Russia, or former Yugoslavia. A neighborhood full of diversity and contradictions. Some call it their home, others just the place they live, while still others think of it as a real neighborhood or 'kiez'. And yet, memories and emotions associated with this place connect them all as neighbors.