Berlin Independent Film Festival 2025 - Beyond the Berlin Wall

Original title: Beyond the Berlin Wall – Reports from Stasi Prisoners

60 Min. | DE | 2025

Language: OmeU | Original language: Deutsch

Director: Abhiroop Banerjee, Berglind Sóley Elstermann Jansdóttir, Marcela Faganello Galluzzi & Matthias Leupold

Cast: Edda Schönherz, Hans-Joachim Lietsche, Matthias Leupold

Thirty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, three former political prisoners recall their moments of violation and humiliation in the clutches of state security in East Berlin and their experiences in the then Hohenschönhausen Interrogation Centre. This documentary offers an insight into their individual experiences of this period in and out of prison, from a historical and personal point of view. The stories of Edda Schönherz, a former TV news presenter, Hans-Joachim (Akki) Lietsche, a former window dresser, and Matthias Leupold, a fashion magazine driver at the time, will make you reflect not only about the past but also about the present.