- Occupation
Director - Country
Germany
Büchner Christiane
pereSTROIKA - reCONSTRUCTION of a flat
Perestroika means reconstruction. The metaphor coined by Gorbachev for the modernization of society is shown here with the complicated sale of a former Soviet communal flat. Every room of the desolate living space belongs to someone else - a single mother, a family of four, a bachelor, and a woman about to retire. Thus, many individual interests have to be accomodated. The sternly friendly real estate agents are happy to help - not out of altruism, but because capital must be enlarged, profit increased. 52' version also available (Titled: "Russian Monopoly")
Perestroika means reconstruction. The metaphor coined by Gorbachev for the modernization of society is shown here with the complicated sale of a former Soviet communal flat. Every room of the desolate living space belongs to someone else - a single mother, a family of four, a bachelor, and a woman about to retire. Thus, many individual interests have to be accomodated. The sternly friendly real estate agents are happy to help - not out of altruism, but because capital must be enlarged, profit increased. 52' version also available (Titled: "Russian Monopoly")
Family Business
The film shows the life of two families, brought together by an emergency. In a German family, grandma becomes a nursing case. Somewhere in Eastern Europe, a mother leaves her family in order to help the German. A film about the economies of families in the Western and Eastern parts of Europe. Carefully, from both sides, the film delves into the subtle texture of everyday drama, brought on by the situation: the daughter‘s irritated look to her mother, who allows herself to be stroked by the foreign woman; the helpless anger over a bland Polish meal because the ingredients are missing; the unintentional comedy of co-existence with two different languages. It is a trade, but no easy trade. Money and feelings cannot be swapped unopposed. While the German family ‘imports‘ a missing family member and regains some balance, the Polish family loses its centre: the mother.
The film shows the life of two families, brought together by an emergency. In a German family, grandma becomes a nursing case. Somewhere in Eastern Europe, a mother leaves her family in order to help the German. A film about the economies of families in the Western and Eastern parts of Europe. Carefully, from both sides, the film delves into the subtle texture of everyday drama, brought on by the situation: the daughter‘s irritated look to her mother, who allows herself to be stroked by the foreign woman; the helpless anger over a bland Polish meal because the ingredients are missing; the unintentional comedy of co-existence with two different languages. It is a trade, but no easy trade. Money and feelings cannot be swapped unopposed. While the German family ‘imports‘ a missing family member and regains some balance, the Polish family loses its centre: the mother.
Born in 1965 in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. 1986-93 studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin. 1991 Stipendiate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Leningrad. 1994 Founded the Büchner Filmproduktion GbR with Tobias Büchner. 1994 Artist in Residence at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Moscow. 1997-2000 postgraduate studies at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. Since 2001, member of the Commission of the Oberhausen ISFF. Founding Member of La Doc film network Cologne, appointed Lecturer in Film and Design at various academies. Productions for/with WDR, MDR, 3sat, ARTE (selection): I Went to Russia (1993, 25 min, 16mm); You‘ll Never Walk Alone (Aus der Praxis, für die Praxis, 1996, with Tobias Büchner, 75min, 16mm, Berlinale 1996); Das Gute Tun (1997, Exhibition Kunstraum Düsseldorf 120/ 5min, Beta-SP); Neighbours of the Kremlin (Das Haus der Regierung, 2003, Co-production with WDR and KHM, 2002, 110 min, Digi Beta, Documentary Fortnight, MoMA, NY, Variety review, March 2004); Tanja rockt! (documentary, 28 min, Digi Beta, 2008); pereSTROIKA - reCONSTRUCTION of a Flat (2008, aka Russian Monopoly - or How to Sell a Flat with Six Owners (2008, DOK Leipzig, Visions du Réel Nyon, Hot Docs Toronto, Crossing Europe Linz, Planete Doc Review Warsaw, Documenta Madrid, Margaret Mead Festival New York, Kassel IDFF, artdocfest Moscow, One World Prague); Warschau-Frankenstein (80 min, documentary, co-production with 3sat, in production); Family Business (90 min, documentary, Büchner Filmproduktion, in development).