Films by Thomas Lütz

Germany 2022, 107 min
by Lutz Pehnert

A biography set in East and West Berlin in which singer-songwriter Bettina Wegner, born in 1947, sings about life in the GDR, her feelings of being uprooted in West Berlin, and looks back with humour and honesty on a life of resistance. [72 Berlinale]

France, Germany 2009, 56 min
by B. Louargant

Temple of expressionist German cinema, mythical spot haunted by the ghosts of Fritz Lang and Marlène Dietrich, at the forefront of new filming techniques, the Babelsberg studios had a promising future. But the Nazi regime caused talented directors to flee the country and imposed soulless comedies and propaganda films onto the studio. After the war came 40 years of communist régime (where the directors of the DEFA company, who from 1946 to the fall of the wall, were the emblem of cinema for the GDR) created the first anti-fascist films and tried to give socialism a human face. Later, they tried to battle against censorship imposed by the communist powers. 20 years after the fall of the wall, this film town is now transformed into a media site in the service of big international productions, and other commercial TV initiatives. A century after their creation, the Babelsberg studios continue to thrive.