Architects - film, reading and discussion

In the time of upheaval in 1989/90, when everything seemed possible both politically and for the individual, the bleakness that radiated from the last DEFA film "The Architects" by director Peter Kahane, which was also a political statement, seemed like something from the distant past. 35 years later, the film conveys a nuanced picture of the challenges and restrictions imposed by bureaucracy and political indoctrination to which a planning collective with idealistic ideas and the will to improve socialist society were exposed in the late GDR.

The novel "Die Allee" by Florentine Anders from the year 2025, in which the architect Hermann Henselmann succeeded in exploring the room for manoeuvre. The charismatic Henselmann, who was steeped in the ideas of the Bauhaus and the avant-garde, advanced to become East Berlin's chief architect after the war. Berlin's Stalinallee, the television tower, the Haus des Lehrers, Leipzig's Uniturm and the Zeiss high-rise in Jena are all associated with his name.

The film screening and reading from the novel will be followed by a discussion with the author and director, moderated by Prof. Dr Sylvia Claus (Chair of History of Art) and Prof. Dr Christer Petersen (Chair of Applied Media Studies).

An event as part of the lecture series "What do we stand for" organised by the Institute of History of Art and Architecture and the "Cottbus Film Talks" of the Department of Applied Media Studies at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg.

Venue: Weltspiegel, Rudolf-Breitscheid-Straße 78, 03046 Cottbus