Part I: NARBE BERLIN | SCAR BERLIN

Synopsis:

NARBE BERLIN | SCAR BERLIN: is a film dealing with the former division of the city of Berlin into East Berlin, the capital of the GDR, and West Berlin, a symbol for Western freedom of thought and movement. The Berlin Wall was carved into the landscape in 1961 and fell in a peaceful revolution in 1989. More than twenty years after the eradication of the German divide, The Scar features the total length of the approximately 160 km-long former Death-Strip isolating West Berlin within the East German State: this heavily guarded zone, between 70 and 500 meters wide, running the length of the Wall, reinforced the "antifascist protection bulwark". Filmmaker and visual artist Burkhard von Harder has enlisted the aid of a helicopter and pilot to follow the precise course of the former dividing line. Starting and ending at Schönefeld airport, this real time film document shows the "Scar" still in the process of healing. The attempt to find the "path" is akin to the attempt to recall permanently the past as part of the struggle of contemporary German society to comprehend its history. The land itself carries invisible traces of what has been written on the ground. It is the retracing of the trace that is the intent of this film. By doing so, Burkhard von Harder seeks to create a meditation on the past and perform an act of cinematic healing.

conception, production, direction: Burkhard von Harder
photography: Evert Cloetens
editing: Alex Beyer
original soundtrack: FM Einheit
(add. compositions by Klaus Wiese (1942-2009)
consulting: Helen Adkins
helicopter operation: Air Service Berlin

Part II: NARBE DEUTSCHLAND | SCAR GERMANY

Synopsis:

As part of the Iron Curtain that ran from the Black Sea to Finland with an overall length of approx. 8500 km, the inner german border was splitting the country itself.
The camera is following this line as close as possible, sometimes getting lost. The aim is to produce one single uninterrupted movement - in its entire length the film may have as few as 50 cuts (alone due to the need of refueling the helicopter).
Slowly the camera follows the line below through the four seasons in the course of more than three years: what appeared to be a line proofs to be a cycle that morphs into a spiral, indicating change.
Slow film - slow music:
Important to the integrity of the work is its mesmerizing soundtrack, matching 16 hours of constant image flow with 16 hours of drone music, composed and performed by the late Klaus Wiese (1942-2009). A brief historic voice recording by Otto von Bismarck is referencing the time span of a 100 years (1889-1989), setting the tone, other than that the installation is envisioned as empty canvas the viewer is invited to fill him/herself.

NARBE BERLIN | SCAR BERLIN to buy:

NARBE BERLIN | SCAR BERLIN

as Blu-ray [english / chinese / 中文 subtitles ] / revised edition @: