KAPUTT

Gabriele Stötzer and Birgit Willschütz were political inmates at Hoheneck Castle, the most notorious women’s prison in East Germany. Their story is one of overcrowded cells, despotic hierarchies, ruthless everydays, and the enduring effects of incarceration. Most of all, however, it is about the crushing pressure of forced labor. Prisoners at Hoheneck manufactured millions of pantyhose, bed sheets, and other products for West German retailers, bringing enormous profits to both sides of the Iron Curtain. Part of the young animadoc tradition, the seven-minute film pairs original audio interview extracts with abstract, monochrome animation.

Trailer

Directors

VOLKER SCHLECHT was born in 1968 and works as an illustrator and filmmaker in Berlin. He studied Communication Design at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle and taught in the Animation department of Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF. Currently he also works as a professor of Sequential Illustration at the BTK University of Art and Design.

ALEXANDER LAHL was born 1979 and studied Cultural Sciences in Berlin, Wroclaw and Frankfurt (Oder). He works as a writer, filmmaker and producer and co-founded the media label Die Kulturingenieure.

Volker Schlecht (photo © StephanTautz/KURZFILMTAG), Alexander Lahl, Max Mönch photos © Volker Schlecht/Die Kulturingenieure