Films by Dieter Schumann

2016, 85 min
by Dieter Schumann

Boizenburg is a small town in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, in the northeast of Germany. The small kiosk close to the local railway station runs from 5:00am until 10:00pm and hosts all sorts of guests: workers from the nearby slaughterhouse, the unemployed, the local taxi driver, retirees, a single mom. In late 2015 thousands of refugees arrive at the station on their way to the reception camp outside the city. The kiosk guests who normally just drink their beer and watch soccer begin to discuss politics, sharing reflections of their own situation, allowing us a look at their lives, their frustrations and hopes.

Germany 2010, 100 min
by Dieter Schumann

The film accompanies the Wadan employees throughout their 18-month struggle for the preservation of their shipyard. A film about the value of work in a globalized world. Wismar, 45,000 inhabitants. The income of every third family depends on the Wadan shipyard, the only major company in the region. In August 2008 a Russian investor takes over the old, traditional business and its future seems secured. But then the financial and economic crisis hits the Hanseatic City at its very centre: more than 5,000 jobs are at stake. A race against time ensues. We accompany a group of welders through turbulent months and bear witness to the fact that losing one‘s jobs means so much more than losing one‘s income. We show the workers, the owners and the liquidators struggling to preserve the shipyard, we experience their ups and downs between powerlessness, anger, sadness and hope. The Wadan shipyard goes down and is reopened under a new ownership and a new name. Some of our protagonists return to their company, but under much worse conditions. The film examines what is left after this crisis.

Germany 2008
by Dieter Schumann

For several decades the Hospital of the Bethlehem monastery in Ludwigslust has enjoyed an exceptional reputation throughout Mecklenburg, thanks to the dedicated activity of the deaconesses who have served here since its foundation by Helene von Bülow 150 years ago. With entry into the monastery and their confirmation as deaconesses the women devote themselves to celibacy and a life without possessions in order to attend entirely to children and the sick and their big family in the deaconal community. Spread all over Mecklenburg, the sisters work in hospitals, mental institutions and homes for blind and old people. They have also operated prison hospital wards, and founded the first playschools within the country. The film grants insight into the life of the last remaining deaconesses, some of whom are now very old, and poses the question about the meaning of belief and human solidarity. Film location: Stift Bethlehem / Ludwigslust, Germany Production: Basthorster Filmmanufaktur Dieter Schumann Schlossstr. 27 19089 Crivitz / Basthorst, Germany tel.: +49 (0) 3863-555852 dieter-schuhmann@web.de

Germany 1990, 83 min
by Johann Feindt, Jeanine Meerapfel, Helga Reidemeister, Dieter Schumann, Tamara Trampe

Rhine wine in Saxony! It is being served at an information stand set up by West Germany’s Christian Democratic Union party (CDU) just before the first and only free elections to East Germany’s People’s Assembly; the ballot will give the CDU almost 41% of the vote. But while the East Germans appear entirely sober about it all despite the sweet swill on offer, during the election campaign in February/March of 1990 the West Germans seem drunk on the new order. “Socialism is over. Nobody wants it anymore”, exults Helmut Kohl. Meanwhile, his finance minister is speaking of an “expanded economic territory”. And very soon, a Nazi banner is proclaiming the “east regions” of Germany as the next goal for a “reunification”.“How do various generations experience the uncertainty, the disorientation and the reconsideration of East Germany’s old values?”, asked the East-West German documentary film collective Blick ins Land. In their questioning of workers, schoolchildren, border guards and police, a teacher and an East German state security (Stasi) officer about their experiences and feelings, the collective provided an unvarnished look at the downsides of the “splendid happiness”. Source of Synopsis