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Bettina Wegner, born in 1947 in the western part of Berlin, co-founded the "Hootenanny-Klub" in 1966, initially an open platform for songwriters. When the state youth organization FDJ brought the informal club into line and renamed it the "Oktoberclub," Wegner dropped out. In August 1968, she and a friend protested against the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops into the CSSR. For this she was criminalized and convicted. In the 1970s, she developed into one of the most important non-conformist voices in the GDR. In 1983, the state forced her to move to West Berlin. The film is a sensitive portrait, artistically responsible for Lutz Pehnert, the son of the former deputy minister of culture of the GDR. The film opened at the 2022 Berlinale and was nominated for the 2023 Grimme Award. Director: Lutz Pehnert, 2022, 107 min (FSK 0)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3SnP-GyCJI
 

Gerhard Gundermann, born in Weimar in 1955, also had his musical roots in the singing movement of the GDR. Early on, he became a member of the SED and in the military cadre. When he was expelled from officer school, he worked as an excavator operator in open-cast lignite mining. At the same time, he developed songs and plays. In the mid-1980s he became known as a solo artist in the GDR, was able to produce an LP and gained a loyal fan base. During his growing success in the mid-1990s, his longtime activity as an IM of the State Security became known. In 1998, he died of a stroke at the age of only 43. The director Grit Lemke knew the musician well from their time together in Hoyerswerda. It was only with the success of Andreas Dresen's feature film Gundermann that she was able to win rbb and mdr for the production. Her film premiered at Dok Leipzig in 2019 and is a personal look at one of the most contradictory artists of the East. Directed by Grit Lemke, 2019, 84 min (FSK 0).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKlSwwjBmAs