Philipp, a closeted teacher, is dating a female colleague to keep up appearances. One night he stumbles into a gay bar and falls for a man. Transformed by this love, he is no longer afraid to face up to who he is.
Acting
Freihof's trembling restraint — every glance is a confession.
Direction
Carow shot this as the Wall fell; history bleeds into fiction.
Production
Authentic East Berlin locations, now vanished time capsules.
Director
Heiner Carow
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was the DEFA studio's first explicitly gay film, greenlit only because the collapsing GDR no longer cared. It premiered November 1989 — days after the Wall fell.
The gay bar scenes were shot at actual underground East Berlin venues; some patrons were real, risking arrest since homosexuality was still technically illegal.
XG
