DRAGAN WENDE - WEST BERLIN OR HOW THE TRABANT INVADED WEST BERLIN AND RUINED MY UNCLE’S KINGDOM
Dir.: Lena Müller & Dragan von Petrovic
2014 | 87 min
Serbia, Germany
In this tragicomical documentary set between West-Berlin and former Yugoslavia, the young cameraman Vuk from Belgrade embarks on the trail of his eccentric uncle Dragan Wende who, 30 years earlier became the street king of West-Berlin’s 1970s hedonistic disco scene. Earning easy money in Berlin's most famous nightclubs, work and play went hand in hand.
Furthermore, thanks to their Yugoslav passport, Dragan Wende and his friends could easily pass from West-Berlin to East-Berlin: they thus profited from the Wall like few others, made quick money 'importing' goods and hard currency and were highly popular with the Eastern Ladies. But in 1989 the Wall fell. Suddenly it was open to everyone and everything changed.
20 years later, Vuk’s uncle is an aged alcoholic who lives off social welfare and memories of his youth. He has not set foot in East-Berlin ever since and seldom leaves his surreal West-Berlin. Vuk and his camera discover and confront his uncle's bizarre and tragicomic world of veteran Yugo-immigrants, fallen millionaires and post-Wall-losers.
In German, English, Serbo-Croation with English and Latvian subtitles.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with the director Lena Muller.
