Thomas Brasch was born as a German-Jewish emigrant in England in order to move to the young GDR with his family at the beginning of the 1950s. His father Horst is primarily interested in helping to build the new German state. But Thomas prefers to realize himself as a writer and in doing so discovers his potential as a poetic rebel. His very first play was banned and soon afterwards he lost his place at the film school. When the tanks of the Soviet Union roll through the Czech capital Prague in 1968, Brasch and his girlfriend Sanda and other students try to call for protest in the streets of Berlin - and fail. His own father betrays him to the Stasi and allows Thomas to go to prison. After being paroled, he continues to try his hand at poet writing about love, revolt and death. In the GDR, however, you don't want to have anything to do with someone like him.
Acting
Albrecht Schuch's haunted, physical transformation.
Production
Meticulous recreation of GDR grayness and paranoia.
Director
Andreas Kleinert
Albrecht Schuch
Thomas Brasch
Jella Haase
Katarina
Ioana Iacob
Sanda
Jörg Schüttauf
Horst Brasch
Anja Schneider
Mutter Gerda Brasch
Joel Basman
Klaus Brasch
Emma Bading
Silvia
Peter Kremer
Thomas Brasch (56 Jahre)
Paula Hans
Bettina
Adrian Julius Tillmann
Vladimir Weigl
Dennis Vehlen
Worker (uncredited)
Claudio Magno
Klaus Brasch (11 Jahre)
Zoë Valks
Jean
Matthias Bundschuh
Regisseur
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Thomas Brasch was a real, largely forgotten GDR poet whose work was banned until 1989; the film sparked renewed German interest in his writing.
Albrecht Schuch spent months learning Brasch's specific handwriting to perform the writing scenes authentically.
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