Kai Ehlers

Gerd Conradt films men carrying a red flag in a relay race through Berlin, to hoist it on the balcony of the current Mayor’s seat. A cinematic experiment based on Eadweard Muybridge, Andy Warhol and New American Cinema. A study in men, movements and a symbol. This is the 7th part of this series of film exercises. The other 6 parts were staged by Harun Farocki (Part 1), Carlos Bustamante (Part 2), Helke Sander (Part 3), Holger Meins (Part 4), Wolfgang Petersen (Part 5), Philip Werner Sauber (Part 6).

What does it mean to live in a neighborhood? What does the place where you live mean to you? Who lives next-door? In the summer of 2017, 140 people who live on and around Rosa-Luxemburg Platz in Berlin's 'Mitte' district were interviewed. These conversations were turned into a series of short films that provide personal insights into diverse lives. Behind each door there's a different story: long-standing Mitte dwellers, founders of start-ups, centenarians, globetrotters, those pining for the old East Germany, and students. There are people who have lived here for two months or sixty years; people who grew up in what used to be East or West Germany, in Latin America, Russia, or former Yugoslavia. A neighborhood full of diversity and contradictions. Some call it their home, others just the place they live, while still others think of it as a real neighborhood or 'kiez'. And yet, memories and emotions associated with this place connect them all as neighbors.