Who's afraid of the Bogeyman

A private coal business in the East Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg in the winter of 1988/89. The resolute female boss runs the regime with wit and intelligence, enjoying the respect of her seven male employees. Tough guys on the outside, away from the heavy physical labor, they also reveal their own vulnerability in the depictions of their professional and private situations.

Through gentle questioning, Helke Misselwitz's social study succeeds in getting the protagonists to willingly allow a look „into their hearts.“ As a result, the film at times feels like the utopia of a supportive community on the social margins of the socialist workers„ state. This perspective “from below" repeatedly touches upon taboos: the construction of the Berlin Wall and fleeing the republic, child abuse and suicide are topics of conversation just as much as prison sentences and alcoholism.

Misselwitz's documentation is an approachable social study which, contrary to many DEFA productions, refrains from ideologically heroizing workers and instead observes their hard daily working lives with great empathy.

As early as October 1989 Who's afraid of the bogeyman premiered at the Neubrandenburg National Documentary and Short Film Festival and was released in cinemas the following spring.

Short film

Helga Paris – Photographer

(Documentary triptych, Germany, 2019, directed by Helke Misselwitz, 31 minutes)

Film Discussion

Following that, there will be a conversation with director Helke Misselwitz, moderated by Annekatrin Hendel.

Film stills (top): ©DEFA_Stiftung_Heiko_Koinzer

Portrait photo (bottom): ©TONY VAH