Virtual Friday Night Films at the Wende: Dusk: 1950s East Berlin Bohemia

The documentary Dusk: 1950s East Berlin Bohemia captures two transitional periods: the years following German reunification and the divided Berlin of the 1950s before the construction of the Berlin Wall. The bohemians featured in the film recall defining encounters with key players of the East Berlin art scene, especially theater reformer Bertolt Brecht. Director Peter Voigt—Brecht’s youngest assistant and himself part of the 1950s art scene—uses interviews, archival materials, and atmospheric images of the period in this multi-layered film essay. Voigt staged the interviews in the shuttered Ganymed Restaurant, his protagonists’ former stomping ground located next to Brecht’s Berliner Ensemble.

For additional reading on the film, visit the DEFA Film Library’s related materials.

Available to stream for free on Kanopy.

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Virtual Film Picks are inspired by the in-person Friday Night Films at the Wende program series. This selection is part of a curated list of weekly movie suggestions that can be watched at home, in conjunction with #WendeOnline.