On the DVD
Short film: "A Regular DEFA Film?" about director Peter Kahane
Director interview: Ralf Schenk talks with Peter Kahane
Q&A with screenwriter Thomas Knauf
Introductory Essay
Original theatrical trailer
Set design sketches
Photo gallery
Biographies & filmographies
Synopsis
This is a social satire made in the last days of East Germany's existence. It pokes fun at the elephantine and humorless way the ever-present bureaucracy thwarted even the tiniest manifestations of originality. In the story, an architect tries to get approval for a contract which will put him in charge of a major city project. If he can get it, his career will be assured. Before he can get very far, however, political events make a hash out of his whole situation. Other architects also try to get their projects through the bureaucracy and devise countless ways to try and slip something meaningful or original past the dutiful and hard-working guardians of the status-quo. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
