Early March 2020. Everything is changing.
Impressions, thoughts and conversations from the Schillerkiez neighborhood in Berlin in the midst of the emerging pandemic and infodemic in the first four weeks of the new era. Recorded in and around the Café Pappelreihe in direct proximity to the world’s largest inner-city open space, the Tempelhof Field.
While the effects, possible scenarios, curfews and the situation abroad are reported and discussed on the radio, the events and conversations in the café, the neighborhood and the expanse of the Tempelhof Field are observed. The post-war period in Berlin is remembered, jokes are made, fears and scenarios debated, but also what it means when an important person or place in our everyday life is suddenly gone.
First Wave
Christian Plähn
Born in 1979 in Celle. Studied Communication Design and Audiovisual Communication in Braunschweig and Barcelona/Spain. Active as a producer and as a motion designer.
2003 ZWEI LEBEN, Animationskurzfilm
2005 FÜR DIE KATZ, Dokumentarfilm
2010 08001, Dokumentarfilm
2013 вне игры, ABSEITS, Dokumentarfilm
2016 HEIMA – HEKLA FLOKADOTTIR, Kurzdokumentarfilm
2017 BEN MOLINA, Kurzdokumentarfilm
2021 WER RETTET DIE CLUBS, Dokumentarfilm
2022 ERSTE WELLE, Dokumentarfilm HOF 2022
“We all will remember those first days of the ‘new normal’ for the rest of our lives. This was the motivation to observe everyday life here in the neighborhood and to collect scraps of the flood of information.
The film ERSTE WELLE is a time capsule, preserving that uncertainty and our way of dealing with the situation, and at the same time a portrait of the neighborhood in times of change. And in a way, it also helped me deal with the new situation and will connect many of us for a long time.”
Christian Plähn