BERNAU LIEGT AM MEER

Daniel lives in Bernau, a small town north of Berlin. This film tells this 21-yearold's story and describes the radical right-wing milieu in which he grew up. In his candid portrait of how right-wing radicalism breeds, Daniel explains how difficult it is to break out of a vicious circle of violence, self-hatred and a right-wing extremist frame of mind. As Daniel says: "I felt better after a fight, because it made me feel like I was somebody." Luckily, thanks to the committed efforts of social worker Rosemaria Kalas and juvenile court magistrate Andreas Müller, Daniel is able to turn his life around.

This film shows the influence Germany's specific history still exercises on individual lives. According to the filmmaker, the DDR period is present in the movie "below the surface, in the choice of words, memories and the atmosphere within the scenes". Martina Döcker's film is not as dark as one might suppose, given the subject matter. Various levels of commentary enable the viewer to make connections, thus providing a very different picture of small town life in Germany.