The Retrospective of the 76th Berlinale is taking a look back at the 1990s. The films of “Lost in the 90s” reflect upon the opening of borders after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. Independent filmmakers above all contributed significantly, in both documentary and narrative form, to finding new images and stories for old and new worlds. The Retrospective is taking up that theme with films by Ulrike Ottinger, Harun Farocki, Chantal Akerman and Krzysztof Kieślowski.
Ulrike Ottinger’s ‘Johanna d’Arc of Mongolia’ (Berlinale 1989) is a visually opulent and humorous story of how characters from an artificial “West” and a real and imaginary “East” meet. In the vast natural landscape of endless steppes, a group of western tourists encounter their Mongol “mirror images” – complete with cultural misunderstandings, reconciliations and joint laughter. A good jumping-off point for Doris Berger’s discussion with Ulrike Ottinger.