FILM SERIES IN COOPERATION WITH THE FILMMUSEM POTSDAM
Filmmuseum Potsdam © Filmmuseum Potsdam, Photo: Jörg Leopold
Parallel to the exhibition Wohnkomplex: Art and Life in Plattenbau at DAS MINSK Kunsthaus in Potsdam, the Filmmuseum Potsdam presents an accompanying film program. While the exhibition explores how East German Plattenbau developments have been represented in art, the film program continues this examination through feature and documentary films spanning the 1960s to the early 2000s.
A DAS MINSK exhibition ticket entitles you to reduced admission to the film series at the Filmmuseum Potsdam. Conversely, presenting a ticket to one of the film screenings entitles you to a reduced entry to the Wohnkomplex exhibition at DAS MINSK.
In cooperation with the Filmmuseum Potsdam
Details on the program: www.filmmuseum-potsdam.de
September 11, 2025, 6 PM
Die Architekten [The Architects]
D: Peter Kahane, A: Rita Feldmeier, Kurt Naumann, Uta Eisold, GDR 1989/90, 97'
In his late 30s, Daniel Brenner is an architect who has only designed bus stops, transformer stations, and department stores. Then he gets his big break: he’s appointed chief architect for a cultural center in a new housing estate. His team’s ambitious plans soon prove nearly impossible to implement.
The film, which had been in planning since the 1980s, could only be realized once the GDR had begun to dissolve. During filming, reality had caught up with the script, making it increasingly difficult to authentically capture images of the old GDR, as pieces were disappearing by the day. In the end, even the wall needed to be reconstructed.
Introduction to the exhibition and moderation: Kevin Hanschke (journalist and cultural manager)
Guest: Peter Kahane (director)
Die Architekten © DEFA-Stiftung/Christa Koefer
Unser kurzes Leben © DEFA-Stiftung/Klaus Goldmann
October 12, 2025, 6 PM
Unser kurzes Leben [Our Short Life]
D: Lothar Warneke, A: Simone Frost, Hermann Beyer, Gottfried Richter, GDR 1981, 113'
After her divorce, the young architect Franziska Linkerhand leaves Berlin for the provinces where she works on designing a new housing development. But professional pressures have led to ambivalence and resignation from her staff. There are arguments. Franziska meets and falls in love with a new man. But she’s not prepared to make compromises in her private life either.
Based on the book Franziska Linkerhand by Brigitte Reimann.
November 14, 2025, 6 PM
Gestern und die neue Stadt [Yesterday and the New City] (D: Wolfgang Bartsch, GDR 1968, Doc., 26') documents the construction of Halle-Neustadt in an opulent widescreen format. Based on the development of the worker’s movement and the rise of the GDR, the film juxtaposes the old town of Halle with the new buildings and their numerous social facilities.
Erinnerungen an Häuser [Memories of Houses] (D: Eduard Schreiber, GDR 1980, Doc., 30') depicts the large housing estate on Paul-Junius-Straße Straße in Berlin-Lichtenberg as a mini-GDR in its own closed universe.
In Stadtlandschaften: Knebel, Magnus, Pfeifer [Urban Landscapes: Knebel, Magnus, Pfeifer] (D: Karlheinz Mund, GDR 1981, Doc., 30') the artists Konrad and Klaus Magnus draw the old Berlin, while the Halle-based Uwe Pfeifer, whose work is also represented in the exhibition Wohnkomplex at DAS MINSK Kunsthaus in Potsdam, deals with the Plattenbauten in Halle-Neustadt.
Introduction and moderation: Jeanpaul Goergen (film historian)
Guest: Uwe Pfeifer (artist), Karlheinz Mund (director, invited), Kevin Hanschke (journalist and cultural manager)
Neustadt: Deutsche Kinemathek
January 17, 2026
5 PM / 7 PM / 9 PM
The Neustadt Trilogy by Thomas Heise
Stau – Jetzt geht’s los [Jammed – Let’s Get Moving]
D: Thomas Heise, GER 1992, Doc., 85'
The film follows right-wing youth in their everyday lives in the early 1990s in Halle-Neustadt—formerly a socialist model housing estate—through scenes of leisure, work, unemployment during a time of considerable insecurity. Through long conversations and biographical digressions, director Thomas Heise seeks to understand the roots of their right-wing political views, doing so without commentary or judgement.
Neustadt (Stau – Der Stand der Dinge) [Neustadt (The State of Things)]
D: Thomas Heise, GER 2000, Doc., 90'
Eight years after the documentary Jammed – Let’s Get Moving, Thomas Heise returns to the housing estate to capture the lives of the youth and their parents. A decade after German reunification, Halle has revealed itself as place of great disappointment, marked by diffuse and raw aggression. Heise immerses himself in the lives of groups of young people and into the living rooms of the new housing estate—a project that cannot be overestimated.
Kinder. Wie die Zeit vergeht [Children. As Time Flies]
D: Thomas Heise, GER 2007, Dov., 90'
In his third cinematic visit to the former chemical region of Halle and Leipzig, documentary filmmaker Thomas Heise takes stock of a long-term observation. He examines what has become of the dreams, visions, and fears of his former interlocuters and paints a rather bleak picture of people who remain in a kind of collective rigidity. He refrains from ridiculing his protagonists, preserving their dignity.
January 23, 2026, 6 PM
Spur der Steine [Trace of Stones]
D: Frank Beyer, A: Manfred Krug, Eberhard Esche, Krystyna Stypułkowska, GDR 1966, 139'
A masterpiece in every respect (Klaus Gysi): The most popular and, after 1989, most successful banned film infuriated the SED hardliners, but thrilled the few viewers permitted to see it in 1966 until it was cancelled after a short running time and staged disruptive actions. In Beyer’s construction site western, DEFA star Manfred Krug plays the starring role of the anarchic brigadier Balla, who clashes with the idealistic party secretary Horrath and the new construction engineer Kati. The men get together after various arguments, but compete for their colleague.
Spur der Steine © DEFA-Stiftung/Klaus Schwarz