“Quiet!” someone shouts. A glass tips over somewhere. The projector beam hits the bed sheet. The small two-room apartment in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg district is packed. They came because “Buschfunk” announced another secret Super 8 screening. There were painters and musicians who, in their desire to experiment, took up narrow-film cameras or simply cinephiles and enthusiasts who wanted to contrast their own images with the official ones. In the 70s and 80s there was an illustrious narrow film scene in the GDR that produced its films on Super 8 in a completely unorganized and individual manner, beyond the state institutions. Of course, this didn’t go unnoticed by the Stasi. The result was confiscation of the material, checks in the copying factory and subtle attempts to disrupt the professional careers of the narrow film makers. The documentary by Cornelia Klauß introduces filmmakers from the time and outlines what became of them. She reconstructs the work of amateur filmmakers in the GDR, who aroused the suspicion of those in power with their ironic but often completely harmless images. “With the camera,” says a painter, “you could defend yourself against the dreary everyday life.”

Director: Cornelia Klauß
Camera: Michael Schehl, Oliver Klein
Editing: Ulrich Sackenreuter
Sound: Tanja Schotola
Editorial Staff: Uwe Zimmermann, Hannelore Schäfer
Production: Gunter Hanfgarn
Co-Production: NDR
Station: NDR