Films by Alma Barkey

Germany 2011, 90 min
by Alma Barkey

On the hills above the city, a white villa embellished with decorative turrets and gables sits amidst a park surrounded by palm trees - an image from a fairytale. The “Hotel Oloffson” is a place steeped in history and numerous personal stories. Prominent foreign guests who have stayed here include actors Humphrey Bogart and Marlon Brando as well as Graham Greene, Truman Capote, Mick Jagger and Bill Clinton. From one of the building’s many balconies you can see the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, where misery grew constantly over the past 60 years and which was devastated by the earthquake of January 2010. However, the legendary Hotel Oloffson wondrously survived the quake. During the day the Oloffson merely swelters in the heat, but as soon as the sun goes down, its guests along with wealthy Haitians meet for sundowners at the bar or the veranda and suddenly the hotel becomes alive. This documentary is a collection of anecdotes involving the hotel, its owner and guests and provides a snapshot of the everchanging history of Haiti in the 20th century.

Germany 2009
by Uli Aumüller (Alma Barkey)

At the center of our historical documentary stands the many-facetted personality of August Bier (1861-1949) director of the University Clinic for Surgery in Berlin, who was connected with important historical events during his long life. Bier was a man of many talents: an innovative surgeon, he discovered spinal anaesthesia in a self-experiment; he invented the steel helmet that protected innumerable soldiers from injury and death during World War I. He also pioneered in forestry, conducting “ecologically” sustainable experiments on his estate, where he transformed the local sand-and-pine steppe into a healthy mixed forest. Bier operated on prominent patients, such as Wilhelm II and President Ebert, who unfortunately died on his operating table. In our documentary we emphasize the contradictory personality of August Bier, who, dispite his arch-conservative weltanschauung was able to assert innovative ideas in many areas.