Section: PLA NAS GRONJE JEJ HANKA

BEI UNS HEISST SIE HANKA

PLA NAS GRONJE JEJ HANKA / POLA NAS RĚKA WONA HANKA

Grit Lemke

Germany, 2023, 91 Min

Sorbian present between Lower and Upper Lusatia, traditional costume clichés and rap music. In her new film, Grit Lemke reflects on the pressure from outside, a sense of "we" from within and the reinterpretation of Sorbian.

Grit Lemke accompanied her protagonists for a year: Sorbs and Sorbian women in Lusatia. Born in Lusatia and thus also in search of her own origins, she encounters stories of repressed identity, defiant self-assertion, denial and reappropriation. From the language ban in the Nazi era to the pejorative foreign attribution in GDR and post-socialist times: Sorbian was considered "backward, unfashionable, stingy. At any rate, not like us", by which "us" once again means the majority society itself. "Don't walk around like a dirty Hanka," was the motto of Grit Lemke's childhood. In the meantime, the sense of belonging is growing in the region, which is marked by never-ending structural change, and in the most diverse ways - between customs and rap music. Already written off by many in the majority society as a museum of local history, a new self-confidence is emerging.

Text: Bernd Buder

This film is the opening film of the 33rd FFC and will be shown at the Staatstheater Cottbus on Tuesday 7 November at 19:00. Tickets are by invitation only.

Drehbuch
Grit Lemke

Kamera
Uwe Mann

Ton
Oliver Prasnikar

Schnitt
Sven Kulik

Musik
Walburga Walde, Izabela Kaldunska

Produzent
Annekatrin Hendel

Produktion
IT WORKS! Medien GmbH

Co-Produktion
Thomas Beyer (MDR), Roman Nuk (MDR), Rolf Bergmann (rbb)

Grit Lemke - was born in 1965 in Spremberg in Niederlausitz and grew up in Hoyerswerda. Since 1991, Grit Lemke has worked in changing capacities for numerous festivals. Until 2017 she was head of the film programme at DOK Leipzig, and at the Cottbus FilmFestival she was in charge of the Sorbian section "Heimat | Domownja | Domizna" until 2022. She has also worked on documentary films and series, including as a dramaturge. She is co-author of the children's documentary "Lene und die Geister des Waldes" (director: Dieter Schumann, 2020). In 2019, she directed the documentary GUNDERMANN REVIER, which was produced on behalf of MDR. After its first broadcast on TV, it received a theatrical release as well as invitations to numerous festivals, was nominated for the Grimme Award and was honoured with the ARD Programme Award.In addition to her work as a filmmaker, Grit Lemke is also a book author. In 2024 Bertz + Fischer will publish "Sorbische Filmlandschaften. Zur Geschichte der Sorben im Film der DDR" (together with Andy Räder).

Movies
2019 Gundermann Revier

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