Video still from Frauen in Berlin, 1981
© C. Vora, L. Barthel, GDR University of Film and Television, 1981; digitisation and restoration by the KONRAD WOLF Film University Babelsberg, supported by the Filmerbe funding programme, financed by the Federal Ministry of Culture (BKM), the federal states and the German Federal Film Board (FFA)
7 Frankfurter Allee
Women in Berlin
The film Frauen in Berlin (Women in Berlin) was made in 1981 by the Indian film directing student Chetna Vora as part of her diploma project at the Film and Television Academy of the GDR in Potsdam-Babelsberg. The film shows 14 women aged between eleven and 83 speaking about their lives, their hopes and experiences at work and in their personal relationships with an openness that was unusual for the GDR. The tension between individual ambitions and enforced pragmatism is explored in long sequences with hardly any editing.
However, the working copy of the film, with a duration of over two hours, was rejected by the school authorities and confiscated, partly because Vora refused to cut it from 140 to 40 minutes. She even stole the film reels for a short time in order to make her own copy but was unsuccessful. The school ultimately had the film destroyed. All that survived was a VHS cassette copy of the working version – as a material clue to an act of institutional disappearance. The film is now considered to be one of the bravest surviving documentary films about women and emancipation in the GDR.
Video still from Frauen in Berlin, 1981
© C. Vora, L. Barthel, GDR University of Film and Television, 1981; digitisation and restoration by the KONRAD WOLF Film University Babelsberg, supported by the Filmerbe funding programme, financed by the Federal Ministry of Culture (BKM), the federal states and the German Federal Film Board (FFA)
Video still from Frauen in Berlin, 1981
© C. Vora, L. Barthel, GDR University of Film and Television, 1981; digitisation and restoration by the KONRAD WOLF Film University Babelsberg, supported by the Filmerbe funding programme, financed by the Federal Ministry of Culture (BKM), the federal states and the German Federal Film Board (FFA)
Video still from Frauen in Berlin, 1981
© C. Vora, L. Barthel, GDR University of Film and Television, 1981; digitisation and restoration by the KONRAD WOLF Film University Babelsberg, supported by the Filmerbe funding programme, financed by the Federal Ministry of Culture (BKM), the federal states and the German Federal Film Board (FFA)
For What If Berlin, Akira Takayama transposes unrealised projects from the archives of the Berliner Festspiele and other Berlin cultural institutions, as well as from architects and artists, into the present and asks us which vision we want to realise in the future.
The future vision for the project Women in Berlin, that will be presented in the frame of What If Berlin from 28 August 2026 onwards, will respond to the following question: What if Berlinale created a section for unrealised films?
Which of the 27 visions for the future is the most exciting? Which project does Berlin need in future? Which idea should actually be realised?
Until 30 September 2026, you can vote for up to three of the 27 visions for the future. The results will be displayed live to give the latest impression of the public’s reactions.