a jour film (Berlin)

The river Oder: A historical and cultural land-scape churned again and again by the tide of events of the past century. A tale told in concentric circles about a region which was and still is the scene of the beginning, end and open middle of voluntary and involuntary migrations. Virulent issues of daily life and politics that, asked with confident casualness, provide a robust account of the present.

A journey from Alexanderplatz to Lichtenberger Brücke through the avenue in East Berlin: Karl-Marx-Allee in Berlin is an internationally significant architectural ensemble. Its significance for the history of Germany is just as great. And this avenue has accompanied me throughout my life. As a child, it was part of my route to school. My aunt Lotte lived on it. I was often in the Karl Marx bookshop. As a young filmmaker, I made my first long documentary about it. Thirty years later, I now cycle through the avenue to work every morning. My movement through the street is also a movement in time.

Unique archives show a world that no longer exists: pre-war Poland in which two cultures: Jewish and Polish, coexisted wall-in-wall; cottage in a cottage; town next to town. "Po-lin" - meaning "we will stop here" in Yiddish - does not deny the painful past. It only shows that there was something more next to them. Worth remembering and - perhaps - reconstruction.