Section: POLSKIE HORYZONTY: The Female Gaze

Die Dubrow-Krise

The Dubrow Crisis

Eberhard Itzenplitz
Germany, 1969, 97 Min

The reunification of East and West Germany was actually predicted all the way back in 1969, in a television satire from the public broadcaster WDR. Due to a border correction a fictional East German village finds itself transferred from East to West overnight, in a scenario similar to that which occurred when the wall fell; only twenty years earlier.

WDR mediagroup GmbH

The setting for this unlikely satire is the fictional village of Dubrow, located in the Wendland, a region that borders with the West. One night GDR border troops are ordered to undertake a minor border correction, a cause of great confusion to the villagers the next morning, since they would now appear to find themselves on the other side of the border fence. What happens next is familiar to everyone from the very real events that played out in the winter of 1989/90.

The incident, based on a screenplay written by award-winning director and journalist Wolfgang Menge († 2012), are then placed within a wider, equally fictional context, as international experts are called upon to discuss the situation on a TV talk show, before indeed the East Germans realise they have made a mistake and return Dubrow to normality. Eberhard Itzenplitz, who also directed an episode of cult TV series, as well as BAMBULE (1970, authored by Ulrike Meinhof), stands out here with a remarkable authenticity of character. KF

Filmformat
DVD | s/w / b/w
Drehbuch
Wolfgang Menge
Kamera
Leander Looser
Ton
Gerhard Trampert
Schnitt
Alexandra Anatra
Ausstattung
Wolfgang Schünke
Darsteller
Thomas Fabian, Rudolf Beiswanger, Joachim Wichmann, Gustav Burmester, Hans-Rolf Radula, Traugott Buhre, Hans Häckermann, Joachim Mock, Ruth Winter, Niels Clausnitzer
Produzent
Gunther Witte
Produktion
WDR mediagroup GmbH
Kontakt
WDR mediagroup GmbH
Ludwigstraße 11
50667 Cologne
Germany
Tel.: +49.221.20.350
mitschnitt@wdrmg.de
www.wdr-mediagroup.com

Eberhard Itzenplitz - born 1926 in Holzminden, died 2012 in Munich, Germany. He graduated in German philology, art history and philosophy in 1952 receiving his PhD a year later. He later worked as an assistant director. Itzenplitz directed several stage plays, as well as television and feature film productions.

Movies
HOTEL DER TOTEN GÄSTE (1965)
DIE NEUEN LEIDEN DES JUNGEN W. (1976)
FRAY BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS (1982, short, doc)
DIE MITLÄUFER (1985)