Sterne steigen auf

The documentary duo Becky & Marty invite you to a slide show with musical interludes: After extensive research in private living rooms, state archives, and basements full of file folders, the two offer a glimpse into their search for traces of drag and queer subculture in the GDR. Armed with a tape recorder and cake, they meet eyewitnesses, flip through photo albums, and ask important questions such as: Was there drag in the GDR? Who was in the Stasi? What’s left of that unannounced carnival party? And who was a good kisser? In their search for answers, they keep stumbling—over themselves and their own preconceptions.
Becky and Marty take the audience on a journey through the gay and lesbian East, set out in search of role models and queer origin stories, revel in memories that aren’t their own, and end up at a garden party in the mid-1980s. “Stars Rise” is a humorous history lesson in drag about queer life in the GDR, set between the city and the countryside—based on true stories and no less true fantasies.

Concept, Direction & Performance: Mathias Becker aka Becky & Marty Damour

Costumes: Fran Eichhorn & Katharina Eichner
Outside Eye: Nadja Sühnel
Technical Director: Nessi Henning
Technical Assistant: Anne R Oertel
Photo: Awa Ndiaye
Poster Design: Fran Eichhorn
Production: Felix Worpenberg

“Stars Rise” is a collaborative project by Becky & Marty, produced by Die Soziale Fiktion and supported by Twikx at Kontor80 and Remise24. Many thanks to all interview participants.

Content warning: Depictions of experiences of discrimination and oppression, as well as suicidal thoughts.

Funded by the Performing Arts Fund with resources from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the City of Leipzig—Department of Culture, and the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony. This initiative is co-financed by tax revenues based on the budget approved by the Saxon State Parliament.