Films by Alina Cyranek

2020, 28 min
by Alina Cyranek, Falk Schuster

Leipzig, GDR, 1980s: The Hotel Astoria is a magical, almost sacred place. Business people, prostitutes, the elite of the Socialist Party, and from time to time ordinary people meet here. But lobster, salmon and caviar are not always on the menu – extravagance is also on ration. And the Stasi are always watching. Memories of former staff and guests are brought to life in a mix of archive footage and animation. Constant ambiguities show that different historical experiences can co-exist, and that

Germany 2016, 91 min
by Alina Cyranek

When the old couple, Philemon and Baucis, dies after a long and fulfilled life, they die in deep love for each other. So tells the legend, which Anneliese, Ulla, Ruth and Esther, women between 71 and 90 years old, are rehearsing with their theater group. But what if love and life scripts have taken different paths? And at the end of a long life only hope for love remains? In retrospect, the women tell of a life of missed opportunities, affairs and a never-ending longing for great love.