Cinematheque KOFA

Current Programme

UNDER THE PAVEMENT LIES THE STRAND

Director : Helma Sanders-Brahms
1975 103min D-Cinema 1.33:1
One night in Berlin, 1974, Actors Grischa and Heinrich  are locked up in a rehearsal hall by mistake. A few days after a night of getting to know each other, Grischa leaves her husband and goes to Heinrich. Despite the reforms following the '68 rebellion, they are at a loss when those ideals are not being realized and set off in search of a new purpose. Following a heated discussion about the past and the present, the two begin an argument over the new abortion bill but their relationship is only further complicated by an unexpected pregnancy.  A film that sees the aftermath of the '68 student rebellion in Germany through two people's perspectives, it later became 'a cult film in the German feminist movement'. It shows documentary footage like that of demonstrations against making abortion illegal to capture the clash of the political side and the personal side in its film aesthetics as it poses questions about diverse topics such as sex, death, politics, love, labor, fantasy, and abortion. 

Helma Sanders-Brahms (1940~2014) Born in Emden, Germany
After majoring in German literature and English literature in Köln, she worked as a radio and TV broadcaster and model. While staying in Italy in 1967, she got to know directors Pasolini and Corbucci and worked with them. Once her critical film about the labor site for women in West Germany received favorable reviews, her film Under the Pavement Lies the Strand which she directed in 1974 became an important film in Germany's Women's Movement. After gaining worldwide fame with Germany, Pale Mother, she continued to make documentaries and feature films. 
 
Related Programme
  • 2019.08.22.Thu 16:30 Cinematheque 2

  • 2019.08.27.Tue 19:00 Cinematheque 2

Pre