Director's note
VERA BRÜCKNER ON „SORRY COMRADE“
Born in 1988, the idea of a divided Germany is foreign to me. Growing up in a world shaped by American optimism and influence, I didn't even know of the GDR for many years. In everyday life, I was more likely to encounter McDonald's, MTV or The Simpsons. There was never any talk of a wall, even though my grandmother had fled the GDR. The focus of my work as a filmmaker is the story, and my often experimental form always follows the content. When Karl-Heinz, the father of my partner at the time, pulled out his Stasi file at a family dinner and casually said that he had once thought that this story could be a film subject, he caught my attention. The more I got into the material, the more I became fascinated by the amount of details worth telling. But it also became clear to me that a strong reduction of these numerous, beautiful aberrations was necessary to make a film. I decided to get to the heart of the story: Karl-Heinz and Hedi's love story across the Wall and their insanely complicated and risky escape. It all happened at a time when young people everywhere were in turmoil and questioning the world they lived in: a world in which Hedi and Karl-Heinz were caught between two great powers that made it impossible for them to be together. Even 50 years later, we continue to question our social order and should not tire of doing so.
In the middle of the preparations for "Sorry Comrade," a few weeks before filming began, the steadily growing pandemic began to overtake us. We were more than excited begin a journey through Germany and Romania with the almost 70-year-old protagonists. Then we slowly realized that under no circumstances would we be able to complete the intended shooting schedule. Finally, "against all odds" we as a small team found ways and means to realize this film in a time when most filming was on hold. This spirit never left the project in any phase, and with our combined efforts we ended up creating a film that I still enjoy even after watching it many times. I am very happy that I was able to dare many experiments with this film, which one dares - and, as I think, should dare - especially with when graduating a film school.