FORTSCHRITT IM TAL DER AHNUNGSLOSEN

The agricultural machinery made in Neustadt in Saxony was also sold to Syria. Some of the ‘Fortschritt’ combine workers had even travelled there. So, the arrival of the Syrian refugees triggers nostalgic sentiments in some of them, for example, in the people who run the museum of local history and the choral society members. As part of the mise-en-scène, the refugees are inducted into long bygone traditions of East German everyday culture: for instance, how to greet the teacher as a young pioneer. With his experimental documentary, director Florian Kunert, who himself grew up in Saxon Switzerland, carries his audience off into a complex mentality web of memories and disappointment, perseverance and hospitality. In doing so, he makes an important contribution to the exploration of East German sensitivities in a region that otherwise makes headlines mainly with its populist resentments. “Kunert’s work as a director resembles that of a therapist who, for the sake of the complicated present, investigates the past, which is challenging to recount.” (Dorothee Wenner, catalogue text for the Berlinale Forum 2019) WMH