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Die Kinder von Golzow – KINO Film of the Year 2008
By Ron Holloway | August 24, 2008
The story of Barbara and Winfried Junge’s Die Kinder von Golzow, the longest running documentary portrait in the history of the cinema, began in August of 1961 right after the erection of the Berlin Wall and fence separating two Germanys. The idea for The Children of Golzow came from Karl Gass at the DEFA Documentary Studio. Its aim was to document the life-styles of a new generation of children educated in a socialist land.
Later, the thematic focus shifted to the experiences of these young men and women after they had finished their schooling. Over the years, the Junge team followed them as they chose a profession, married and founded a family, then dealt with the social changes brought about by German unification. Thus, as a series that closely chronicled two great social and historical moments in East/West German history, Die Kinder von Golzow, will increase in importance for years to come as a scholarly research source.
Last November, a highlight of the 50th Leipzig DOKfestival was Und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind… Die Kinder von Golzow (And If they Haven’t Passed Away… The Children of Golzow) about, above all, the destinies of three women in the class. Now, programmed in the International Forum of New Cinema at the Berlinale, the finale …dann leben sie immer noch (…Then They are Living Happily Ever After) chronicles the lives of men in the class. Our congratulations, Barbara and Winfried Junge. Our congratulations to your team and your cameramen Hans-Eberhard Leupold and Harald Klix on your “Film of the Century”!
Awarded FILM OF THE YEAR 2008 by general consensus of the jury
Ron Holloway – Lutz Jenke – Ulrich Lüder – Dorothea Moritz – Gregor Sedlag
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