BECKETT BEHIND BARS
BECKETT BEHIND BARS
'Endgame' in Germany’s largest prison
Troupe "AUFBRUCH" (Break out)
Inmates of prison Berlin-Tegel
Roland Brus
script: Moritz Wulf
directed by: Moritz Wulf
camera: Heiner Bobke, René Dame
sound: Michael Laube
montage: Adam Hussey
music: Terranova
producers: Uwe Dierks, Thomas Grube
co-produced by: Theaterkanal/ZDF/3Sat (Jürgen Heimbach)
BOOMTOWNMEDIA INTERNATIONAL
BECKETT BEHIND BARS
‘Endgame’ in Germany’s biggest prison
20 long-term jailbirds from 8 nations are performing a play by Beckett in the jail in Tegel, Berlin. They have been rehearsing for 4 months with the director Roland Brus. Inspired by the play, they have kept video-diaries, drawing parallels between the play and their lives. The latter range from childhood and the experience of freedom, via jail and isolation, to possible futures.
What use are friendship, hate and love when alone behind bars, and what use are pride, violence and humiliation there? At what point does the reality of jail – the daily experience of violence and forced passivity – become part of this performance?
At the wish of the filmmakers, these jailbirds were allowed to have 60 minute sessions with a video-camera in their cells. This permission had never before been given in Germany. The resulting video diaries, grouped in terms of themes together with rehearsals and performances, are touchingly candid. Thanks to them this film is a unique, thrilling and surprisingly sensitive portrayal of jail life.
:: SEVEN DOORS
:: ABOUT PHOEBE WASHBURN
