The law ed by the Third Reich to opprs gay men ntued long after s downfall. Director Sebastian Meise on Great Freedom, his searg film about a man rcerated almost all his life
Contents:
- QUEER KO: 1970S AND ‘80S GAY GERMAN ARTHOE CEMA
- ‘ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THE NAZIS’: THE FILM ABOUT GERMANY’S POSTWAR PERSECUTN OF GAY MEN
- ‘GREAT FREEDOM’ AND THE LONG SHADOW OF AN ANTI-GAY LAW GERMANY
- DOCUMENTARY EXPLOR GAY AND LBIAN OPPRSN EAST GERMANY
QUEER KO: 1970S AND ‘80S GAY GERMAN ARTHOE CEMA
Philipp, a closeted teacher, is datg a female lleague to keep up appearanc. One night he stumbl to a gay bar and falls for a man. Transformed by this love, he is no longer aaid to face up to who he is. * east german gay film *
Cast & crewUser reviewsTrivia1989Unrated1h 53mA young teacher East Berl stggl wh acceptg his homosexualy. A young teacher East Berl stggl wh acceptg his homosexualy. None of the gay themed films I saw scribed better the problems and relatns our muny.
The rise of New German Cema cid wh the birth of gay liberatn. Its programmer, filmmaker Wieland Speck, says that “qutng our parents’ generatn, the war generatn, had a strong impact on the velopg gay movement, pecially the first femist ceast.
‘ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THE NAZIS’: THE FILM ABOUT GERMANY’S POSTWAR PERSECUTN OF GAY MEN
This say exam the circumstanc of the productn and appearance of East Germany's first film about homosexualy (the short documentary "Die anre Liebe" or "The Other Love"), while nsirg the role plays our unrstandg of the velopment of German lbian and gay history. More specifilly, this say provis a readg of the film that intifi s affective engagement wh var parti: the anonymo dividuals profil, the GDR dienc, and the official state-n apparat of film productn, among others. * east german gay film *
Speck scrib the attu among German gay men at the time was ma: “every possible STD was ridiculed as the vcibily of the gay psyche ma s first appearance history. ” He adds: “This high time was met hard by the ‘gay ncer’ which ma s way to the nscns of German society about 1986 — an awarens spearhead by Arthur J. Rosa von Prnheim’s nontatnal It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society Which He Liv (1971) has been creded wh spirg the German gay liberatn movement, although Speck scrib this tone as “already strag at the leash.
Prnheim regnized the danger stemmg both om the vis self and the rurgence homophobia led to, envisng a near-future versn of a leper lony.
Collectively wrten, stars the director as a bathhoe owner who profs om allowg his gay ctomers to have unsafe sex while stgglg wh AIDS and his own homophobia.
‘GREAT FREEDOM’ AND THE LONG SHADOW OF AN ANTI-GAY LAW GERMANY
The film juggl several narrative l, cludg an edor who spreads misrmatn her tabloid paper and a woman who fetishiz sex wh gay men, endg up a dystopian 1987, where 70% of German prisoners are HIV-posive and the ernment has ma HIV tts mandatory. “It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society Which He Liv” (Rosa von Prnheim).
DOCUMENTARY EXPLOR GAY AND LBIAN OPPRSN EAST GERMANY
30 years later, the narrative of Heer Carow’s Comg Out (1989) seems a b basic: Philipp (Matthias Freihof), who is married to a woman, realiz that he’s gay after beg attracted to Matthias (Dirk Kummer). He starts explorg East Berl’s gay bar scene and sleeps wh Matthias.