Films by Henrike Sandner

2022, 52 min
by Henrike Sandner

For more than 30 years now, the Soviet Union has been consigned to the history books. Yet, many Russians long for the 'good old days'. Soviet nostalgia is very real. But how can we approach the complex history of this once mighty empire? Along her own family’s story, filmmaker Henrike Sandner - born in 1971 in Dresden in socialist East Germany - episodically traces the journey of the USSR, from 1917 to 1991, and compares different perspectives and realities. Personal memories contrast with 'official' news reports and archive footage from both sides of the Iron Curtain.

2019, 45 min
by Henrike Sandner

The opening of the Berlin Wall on the evening of November 9, 1989 came as a complete surprise to East and West Germans alike, as it probably did to the whole world. How did this historic moment come about? The film identifies ten milestones, key political and societal events from 1988 to 1989 which, like a countdown, ultimately led to the opening and fall of the Berlin Wall. Archive, explanatory graphics and international expert interviews combine with personal stories from diaries and letters of contemporary witnesses revealing their thoughts, fears and hopes as events unfolded.

2016, 156 min
by Sylvie Kürsten, Andreas Gräfenstein, Henrike Sandner

The documentary series tells the stories behind the most significant developments in art history that very often result from the fierce competition of genial masters of a single generation. We introduce the great antagonists in art and the artistic hotspots that developed through their rivalries. By showing the duels between the two artists we offer the audience a unique understanding of the master craftsmen and an entirely new perspective on their work.Dramaturgically, the narrative of the duel not only opens opportunities for comparisons, but also the means to stage a showdown. The duel becomes a window to the stories behind them through which the social development can be more closely examined.German title of the series: DIE GROSSEN KÜNSTLERDUELLE Trailers: Michelangelo vs Leonardo http://vimeo.com/184683005Van Gogh vs Gauguin http://vimeo.com/184672347Nolde vs Liebermann http://vimeo.com/184670077