Sigrid Baumann-Senn

A portrait of photographer Abisag Tüllmann (1935-1996). Abisag Tüllmann’s photographs have become deeply engraved into our cultural memory. Using more than 500 black-and-white photos, all of which taken by Abisag Tüllmann, this cinematic tribute places her life and work in the context of the 1960s to the 1990s. Claudia von Alemann tries to get close to her friend via pictures and archival documents, excerpts from films by Carola Benninghoven, Helke Sander, Alexander Kluge, Günther Hörmann, and Ulrich Schamoni, via the music of composer José Luis de Delás, and via letters and memories, such as those of photographer Barbara Klemm, who still vividly remembers her former Frankfurt colleague.

From 1959 to 1962, about 5000 disabled children were born in Germany, often with shortened and altered limbs, but also very often with damage to internal organs. About half of the children did not survive. In November 1961, it turned out that the sleeping pill and sedative Contergan was responsible for the disabilities. The active ingredient thalidomide had disrupted the growth process of the children in the womb in the early stages of pregnancy. In this documentary, parents of the so-called "Contergan children" tell how they experienced the tragedy.