Synopsis
On January 31, 1988, the dance piece 'Keith' celebrates its premiere at the Komische Oper in East Berlin, capital of the GDR. It becomes an outstanding success. Eight dancers are involved in Keith, along with choreographer Birgit Scherzer. In the year before the fall of the Wall, five of the participants will flee to the West.The dancers, who came from 'working class' backgrounds, were trained by the state to become top performers. An elite whose light was to shine far and wide and be a figurehead (flagship?) for the GDR. As young 'Traveling Cadres', they visited the whole world, learning to know and appreciate Western countries as well, a privilege denied to their fellow citizens at home. In the months leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall – an event that no one had foreseen – many members of the ensemble were faced with a life changing decision, whether to stay or to go. Birgit has to take the consequence of leaving her husband and child.
Filmmaker Salar Ghazi was friends with some of the dancers at the time. He revisits them to review and reflect on the events surrounding the fall of the Fall.Their memories and privately shot VHS footage create a complex picture, which reawakes the attitude to life during the last years of the GDR.