A Quiet Resistance

Im Stillen Laut

A Quiet Resistance

Therese Koppe

DE
2019
Documentary
74’
2020

»What actually happened to the biographies of the female artists who were educated and trained in the GDR and worked there after German reunification? […] I have the feeling that the perception of women’s histories in the GDR has always mainly revolved around two aspects: either a life as a member of a vocal opposition or one in the sphere of the Stasi and ideology. However, what interested me most was the areas in-between – the nuances: how did women artists live, what strategies did they devise, and what utopias were associated with them?«
Therese Koppe

On an old farm in the Oderbruch, Erika Stürmer-Alex, Christine Müller- Stosch and fellow collaborators have created an artistic-feminist utopia. They have lived, loved and worked here for decades and allow all this to be viewed in front of the camera belonging to young film student Therese Koppe. They are tellers of life stories, and do not remain in the past, instead possessing an inquisitive, rebellious and charming interest in the present and the future. As a critical artist, Erika became the object of attention of the State Security Service in the GDR while studying at the academy. She became famous with her abstract art, but also rubbed people up the wrong way more and more. Tine comes from a Christian household and is therefore confronted with state repression from an early age.

Both women, individually, as a couple and in a community of like- minded people, continually succeed – even after German reunification in uncharted capitalist territory – in creating freedom and remaining open to different forms of freedom and autonomy.

Director / Script

Therese Koppe

Cinematography

Annegret Sachse

Editing

Evelyn Rack

Sound

Billie Jagodzinska

Music / Sounddesign

Irma Heinig

With

Erika Stürmer-Alex, Christine Müller-Stosch, Heike Mildner

Production

Therese Koppe, Marie-Luise Wagner, Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF

Contact

Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF

Therese Koppe

Therese Koppe, born 1985 in Berlin, completed her sociology and film studies in 2011, and worked as an assistant theatre director. A scholarship took her to London in 2012 to do a master’s degree in documentary practice, which she completed with her documentary film All Points North. Since then, she has worked for various art and cultural projects in Germany and abroad. Since 2015, Koppe has been studying for a master’s degree in documentary film directing at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF. She and her co-author Lisa Skwirblies received a research grant in 2019 for the development of Koppe’s debut film Haunting Heimat (WT), a portrait of two Namibian women and their perspective on the legacy of German colonial rule.


Films by Therese Koppe
Herr und Frau Dettmann 2018 | All Points North 2013