Films by Therese Koppe

Germany 2023, 24 min
by Therese Koppe

Mariella lives in Berlin with her family of seven. Her father was trained in kung fu martial arts at the Chinese Shaolin monastery. Today he runs the Berlin-Schöneberg kung fu school and prepares her and her sisters for the next tournament. This has been part of Mariella’s life for many years. But the nervousness before each competition never really gets better. [66 DOK Leipzig, Lina Dinkla]

2019, 73 min
by Therese Koppe

Erika and Tine are 81 and have been a couple for 40 years. The two women live on a farm in Brandenburg they restored themselves and look back on eventful lives. In the GDR they both had to fight for personal and artistic freedom and struggled daily with socialism, not to mention its actually existing contradictions. Unlike other GDR creative artists who cracked under the rejection of their art and ideas, they both take a humorous look back today at the manifold documents of their lives, contextualising and contradicting the numerous Stasi files with their own memories, photos, paintings, sculptures and texts. They use the conversations with the young director to take a close look at their own (GDR) past, but also the post-reunification period, the present and future.What can art do in times of social political challenge? How can one stay true to oneself, art and one’s ideals? Where are women still confronted by structural discrimination today? How can social grievances be resolved together? By staying naturally close to its protagonists, the film manages to achieve an enchantingly lucid narrative about freedom, autonomy, creativity and sociality – and, last but not least, a marvellous ode to love. (DOK Leipzig, Luc-Carolin Ziemann)An Honourable Mention goes to A QUIET RESISTANCE by Therese Koppe. The touching portrait of two women, creative artists in the GDR, is a memorable affirmation of how a social niche can evolve into a space of individual freedom. (Jury Statement, DOK Leipzig)