A Brief Description of the Project

Focus Statement

Accomplished international artist G. Scott MacLeod pays homage to Hannelore Scheiber by honouring her oral histories of post-war Berlin in a seven-vignette documentary dealing with her Cold War experiences in Berlin from 1945 to 1982.

Synopsis

This film is a portrait of Hannelore Scheiber in post-war Berlin. The story follows a linear chronology from her birth in January 1945 to her family circumstances during the war and post-war era, contact with Russian soldiers, the Russian blockade, and the Berlin Airlift (Luftbruke) from 1948 to 1949. The film documents her school years from 1951 to 1967, the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, meeting her husband Jean Devigne, their courtship and marriage, up through their crossing through Check Point Charlie in 1982. My intention with this documentary was to film Hannelore at specific locations in Berlin and document her stories and memories in situ through an historical context. My goal was to catch her emotions surrounding her experience growing up in post-war Berlin.