German Cinema: Remembering the Fall of the Berlin Wall 30 Years Ago

German Cinema returned in 2019 to Indonesia and was held in six cities across the country. One of them being Surabaya with screenings from 4^th – 6^th of October 2019 at CGV Cinema in Marvel City Mall. The seventh edition of German Cinema centered on the fall of the Berlin Wall, which happened 30 years ago.

The end of the Berlin Wall marked an important moment in the process of the reunification of West and East Germany, which had been divided for more than 28 years. Two movies represented this topic at the German Cinema 2019, one at the opening and one at the closing ceremony of the festival. The first one, Gundermann, tells the biographic story of an East German musician who was pushed into working for the Stasi, the secret police of East Germany by that time. Ballon, follows the true story of a family that escaped to the West in a self-made air balloon. The highly interesting story managed to draw the attention of many visitors and filled up the cinema to the brink.

The festival’s activities were not only limited to the movie screenings but also activated the audience with a variety of games like Lucky Seat, Quizzes, Challenges and a lottery. The lucky winners could take home some interesting prices. More than 1.000 visitors came and enjoyed watching some of Germany’s most prestigious movie productions of the recent past. Next year German Cinema will be back with another selection of Germany’s finest movies.