Films by Gamma Bak / Gamma Bak Filmproduktion

2014, 84 min
by Gamma Bak / Gamma Bak Filmproduktion, Steffen Reck

Essayist film about a time when the directors Gamma Bak (West Berlin) and Steffen Reck (East Berlin) were a couple for a few years trying to live a relationship in spite of the Berlin Wall. 25 years after the Fall of the Wall this film is a striking historic document taking us back in time.A personal story remembering a defection from East to West using an unexpected exit visa to leave East Berlin in 1988. Collaging personal documents, archival material in Super-8, film and theatre clips and Secret Police Files (STASI) the film also reflects the dilemma of guilt and betrayal over feeling forced into exile. Steffen Reck was a member of the legendary East Berlin avant-garde theatre group ZINNOBER whose work is shown in ENGELBECKEN.

Germany 2010, 92 min
by Gamma Bak / Gamma Bak Filmproduktion

HEAD COLD is a personal long-term observational documentary about psychosis, still a tabooed topic. It follows my attempt to return to a "normal" life - since the mid-90s I had several psychotic breakdowns, which were treated in mental hospitals. The film was shot over 5 years and also uses my archives since 1992. What happened to me is not just relevant on an individual level. It reveals at which points the emancipation from the stigma caused by this illness can occur. My own story is both the point of departure and the example, though at first I found it hard to out myself. Using filmic means, it recounts the struggle of being confronted by a psychic illness right up to the stage when one has reached normalcy once again and the loneliness of being solely responsible for one’s condition. GB

Germany 2004, 108 min
by Andres Veiel

Four acting students are the focus of Andres Veiel’s long-term observational documentary. We meet Stephanie, Karina, Constanza and Prodromos while they are preparing for their acting school auditions. The selection procedure takes months; it is a trying, nerve-racking time spent vacillating between hope and anxiety. All four make it into the school, but their initial euphoria about commencing their studies – including group exercises, role play and obligatory fencing lessons – is soon followed by deflation in the face of merciless criticism of even the slightest shortcoming by their tutors. In this way, their passion for their chosen vocation is constantly put the test.The four students couldn’t be more different: Karina appears to have very few problems; Stephanie, however, has to endure several auditions. Constanze immerses herself in her roles, whilst Prodromos always seems to be at odds with himself, his roles and his dreams. Andres Veiel: “We observe the struggles of the protagonists; how they try not to get stressed out or lose sight of themselves by worrying about the discrepancy between their expectations and their abilities. We accompany them on their search for identity and an image, but we also follow their progress towards maturity as actors and as individuals. Then, at the end of their studies, comes the real test: trying to gain a foothold in the profession. All of a sudden, they find themselves faced with a new set of questions. What is the nature of success? How high is the price for achievement? And what has become of their original dreams and aims, seven years on?”