In 2020, whilst searching through the storage of Ban Ying - Berlin’s oldest shelter house and consultant center for immigrant women (originally for Thai and Filipina sex workers), curator Sarnt UtamachoteI found a VHS tape. It turned out to be the film Westwärts: Südostasiatinnen in der BRD, one of the earliest documentary films about the lives of Southeast Asian women (Thai and Filipina) in West German cities such as Bochum, Hamburg, Frankfurt and West Berlin. Initiated by Southeast Asia Information Center (Südostasien Infostelle, Bochum) in cooperation with Foundation for Women Thailand, the team behind the documentary consisted of academics and activists on women’s issues. Its raw footage is held at the Archive of Alternative Writings (AFAS, Duisburg). Shot right before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and finished editing in 1990, the documentary stands as an important reflection on the social interactions, daily routines and discriminations faced by these women. The film features an interview with a Thai translator, academic and mediator Tippawan Duscha - who was working for AGISRA Frankfurt (founded in 1984) back in 1989. She is currently residing in Darmstadt. Similarly, the film Have you eaten?, created as a graduation thesis at Bauhaus University by Mon Sisu Satrawaha, depicts a contemporary interview with another Thai translator and mediator Payungsri Adam - who works at Ban Ying.
Together on the panel, we aim to have conversation on histories of women trafficking, sex tourism in Germany, and the ongoing violence and stigma faced by these Asian women both in Frankfurt and beyond. (Sarnt Utamachote)
DE 1990 | Director, Editing: Susanne Wycisk | Screenplay: Susanne Wycisk, Siriporn Skrobanek (Foundation for Women Thailand) | Camera: Gabi Hinderberger, Wolfgang Kriener | Music: Band Caravan | Production: Southeast Asian Information Center Bochum, Foundation for Women Thailand | Colour | DCP | 50 min | German version with english SUB | Digitalisation: Jorg Michels (Avantmedia)
| Acronyms | |
|---|---|
| amer. | American English |
| b/w | Black and white |
| OV | Original version |
| SUB | Subtitles |
| +SUB | electronic live subtitling (below the image) |
| INT | Intertitles |
| Countries | |
|---|---|
| AT | Austria |
| FRG | Federal Republic of Germany (historic) |
| BLR | Belarus |
| DE | Germany |
| CAN | Canada |
| GDR | German Democratic Republic (historic) |
| EGY | Egypt |
| FR | France |
| GB | Great Britain |
| URY | Uruguay |
| BRA | Brasil |
| SWE | Sweden |
| UKR | Ukraine |
| PL | Poland |
| IDN | Indonesia |
| PRT | Portugal |
| HRV | Croatia |
| ECU | Ecuador |
| HUN | Hungary |
| AUS | Australia |
| IT | Italy |
| MEX | Mexico |
| IND | India |
DE 2024 | Director: Mon Sisu Satrawaha | Screenplay: Mon Sisu Satrawaha | Camera: Ricardo Preciado Devia | Editing: Yollamon Thongrueng | Music, Sound: Margarida Albino | Production: Mon Sisu Satrawaha, Bauhaus University Weimar | Colour | DCP | 33 min | thai, german OV with english SUB
| Acronyms | |
|---|---|
| amer. | American English |
| b/w | Black and white |
| OV | Original version |
| SUB | Subtitles |
| +SUB | electronic live subtitling (below the image) |
| INT | Intertitles |
| Countries | |
|---|---|
| AT | Austria |
| FRG | Federal Republic of Germany (historic) |
| BLR | Belarus |
| DE | Germany |
| CAN | Canada |
| GDR | German Democratic Republic (historic) |
| EGY | Egypt |
| FR | France |
| GB | Great Britain |
| URY | Uruguay |
| BRA | Brasil |
| SWE | Sweden |
| UKR | Ukraine |
| PL | Poland |
| IDN | Indonesia |
| PRT | Portugal |
| HRV | Croatia |
| ECU | Ecuador |
| HUN | Hungary |
| AUS | Australia |
| IT | Italy |
| MEX | Mexico |
| IND | India |
The screening is followed by a talk (in English) with Susanne Wycisk, Tippawan Duscha and Mon Sisu Satrawaha. Moderated by: Sarnt Utamachote
Susanne Wycisk is a teacher, researcher and political activist who worked from 1984 to 1993 at the Southeast Asia Information Center (Südostasien Infostelle, Bochum) on issues of women rights in the region. She joined the network Against International Sexual and Racist Exploitation (AGISRA) and supported migrant women-led organisations in Bochum such as MONA (1985) and MIRA (2000). For 25 years she taught at a secondary school in Bochum. She is the director of a bicultural film team with the Foundation for Women, Thailand, as a partner for the documentary "Westwärts" (1989/90).
Born in Thailand and based in Darmstadt since 1976, she studied Social Administration at Thammasat University and trained as a Public Relations consultant in Germany. Since 1989, she has worked as a certified translator and interpreter for Thai and German. Her career spans roles in municipal administration, co-founding the intercultural women’s project AGISRA in Frankfurt, leading educational initiatives, journalism, and teaching at FH Frankfurt. Most recently, she served as PR officer at the Heinrich Böll Foundation RLP. Her expertise includes migration, gender, racism, interreligious dialogue, human rights, and intercultural communication.
Mon Sisu Satrawaha (ม่อน ศิศุ สาตราวาหะ) is a multidisciplinary filmmaker, artist, and curator whose practice moves fluidly across film, installation, performance, and food. Her work engages with themes of anthropology, intercultural relations, and contemporary culture, often drawing from personal and collective narratives. Since 2022, Satrawaha has developed the ongoing project Have You Eaten?, which explores the political and emotional landscapes of the Thai female diaspora in Germany. As part of the same project, she created the performance Somtam Manifesto, presented in various contexts, including at Gropius Bau during the closing program of DAS GLÜCK IST NICHT IMMER LUSTIG, an exhibition by Rirkrit Tiravanija. In 2025, she has joined forces with Chōri Collective to create a performance as part of the Live Works fellowship at Centrale Fies
Sarnt Utamachote (ษาณฑ์ อุตมโชติ) is a Southeast Asian nonbinary filmmaker and curator in Berlin. They curated the exhibition “Young Birds From Strange Mountains” at Schwules Museum 2025 and “In Nobody’s Service” at Galerie Wedding 2024, dealing with traces of queer shamans and women and sex workers migration from Southeast Asia to Germany. They furthermore research about exiled Cambodian artists who studied in East Germany, resulting as part of exhibition "Echoes of Brother Countries" HKW Berlin 2024 and "Dislocations-within reach" Kunst Raum Mitte 2025. They are co-founder of the collective un.thai.tled. They work as a film programmer for XPOSED Queer Film Festival Berlin, Short Film Festival Hamburg and Sinema Transtopia (now with the program "The past is not another country" with the German Film Museum Frankfurt). Their short film “I don’t want to be just a memory” premiered at the 74th Berlinale 2024.