Als wir die Zukunft waren

Seven directors recall their childhood and youth in the 1950s and 1960s in the GDR. They present themselves as curious, vulnerable children and teenagers who also want to be cool (even though the word does not yet exist for them). They live in conformist or rebellious families. Some only in half families, because their father has defected to the West. Depending on their family background, they want or are expected to help build the new, better Germany. They graduated from the film school in Babelsberg, worked together at the DEFA studios, and became colleagues and friends—some of them to this day. Now, at around 60 years of age, they return to the places of their childhood, dig out their family photos and films from back then, and reminisce. Seven very personal episodes about hope and doubt, about victories and failures. Beneath the seemingly harmless first layer of everyday memories, further wistful, painful, constricting, and joyful memories are revealed. This is what the episodic film is about. The documentary was released in 2015 and screened at several festivals, including the International Film Festival Hof and DOK Leipzig, where it was praised for its haunting authenticity and emotional depth. Produced by Solo:Film and funded by the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the film received the DEFA Foundation Award and was honored by German film critics as an outstanding contribution to the reappraisal of the GDR's past. With a steady camera, honest interviews, and precise editing, a multifaceted mosaic emerges that goes beyond nostalgia and asks how memory, responsibility, and identity come together today. ALS WIR DIE ZUKUNFT WAREN is not only a look back, but also a film about growing up in a society full of contradictions.