FRG 1988 | Director: Margit Eschenbach, Gerda E. Grossmann | Camera: Gisela Tuchtenhagen, Beatrice Weineck | Editing: Susanne Lechner, Gabriela Pötzsch | Sound: Ulrike Hein | Sound mixing: Dietmar Lange | Editor: Beate Veldtrup | Production: hr (Hessischer Rundfunk) | Colour | 16mm | 30 min | german OV with english SUB | Filmsammlung Uni Paderborn

VIOLETTA CLEAN is the name of the first drug addiction therapy project for girls in the Federal Republic of Germany. 10 young women live together here, with the aim of finally getting off of drugs and out of prostitution. The women living there at the time of shooting speak of their experiences in childhood, living and working on the streets and their current outlook on life. They recount their experiences in mixed therapy facilities and detail the crucial ways they differed from their more positive experience of Violetta Clean. As they relate their stories, the unique atmosphere of the facility and the fundamental principles and special aspects of the therapy become clear. […]

The filmmakers name the causes of drug addiction, though they refrain from assigning blame or adding commentary associated with the horrors of said addiction. The visual language and the conducted interviews are calm, open, empathetic, and not moralising. The result is a gritty, realistic portrait of these women and their emerging path of self-reflection. The unobtrusive camerawork by camerawoman Gisela Tuchtenhagen as well as the fact that the entire filming team consisted of women prevent the individuals sharing their stories from being overly exposed, making it possible to depict their lives and personal problems in an unvoyeuristic manner. (Gerda Grossmann, in a brochure accompanying the film)

Content Notes

DE 2005 | Director, camera, editing, sound, production: Gisela Tuchtenhagen | Contribution: Günther Fidorra, Margot Neubert-Marić | Colour | DCP | 71 min | german OV with english SUB

The film revolves around a group of people with diverse handicaps who are helped by the Hamburg non-profit "Insel" to lead largely independent lives. We see them at home, at their workplaces and in the rooms of "Insel", where they meet every Thursday afternoon to drink coffee and talk. A profoundly human film about normal everyday life which is nothing less than a prime example of the director's approach to filmmaking. (Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art, 2006)

Content Notes