Film & Kunst: "Foto: Ostkreuz"

In the "Film & Art" series, Cinema Quadrat and Kunsthalle Mannheim are showing a documentary about the most successful German photo agency:

PHOTO: OSTKREUZ

DEU 2015. D: Maik Reichert. Documentary. 89 min. FSK: 0

The most successful German photo agency "Ostkreuz" was founded in Berlin after reunification in 1990. The model was the world-famous photo agency "Magnum" in Paris - and the demands on the photo quality of "Ostkreuz" were correspondingly high. The seven initial members, including Ute and Werner Mahler, Sybille Bergemann and Harald Hauswald, were already out and about with their cameras in the former GDR; they documented everyday socialist life, provided cool photos for "Sibylle" (the only fashion magazine in the GDR) and repeatedly captured people's everyday lives on the street, in the factory, in the office and in private rooms. Even in reunified Germany, the agency's focus remains on documentary photography to this day. The period of reunification, the similarities and differences between East and West become clear in the photos, but the film also shows the individual creative approach of the most important members of the agency and their preference for black and white shots.

Introduction: Christina Bergemann, M.A.