Behind Good Doors
This is the story of two siblings. Their parents loved and nurtured them. But the parents also practiced brute force on them: The children were beaten, even when wounded. They were slapped when they fell down. Sometimes for no reason. The parents didn’t regard that as a contradiction. They claimed to love their children, and the children believed them.
The two children are the director and her brother.
The film documents the history of the family as well as the attempt to talk about something that is usually kept a secret: The abuse of one’s own children.
Cast
- herself
- Julia Beerhold
- herself
- Helga Beerhold
- himself
- Jens Beerhold
Behind Good Doors
Julia Beerhold
- Documentary
- Production Country / Year
- Germany 2023
- Language
- de. OF mit en. UT
- Format
- DCP, Both, 79min
1.78:1 (16:9), Discrete 5.1
- Original Title
- Hinter guten Türen
Director & Crew
Julia Beerhold
Born in 1965 in Düsseldorf. Studied Theater, Film and Television Studies, Art History and Romance Studies at the University of Cologne, Acting at the Escuela de Interpretación Cristina Rota in Madrid, and a Master Class in Non-Fiction at the ifs Internationale Filmschule in Cologne. Active as an actress and director.
Filmography
2007 SCHATTENMENSCHEN – ILLEGAL IN DEUTSCHLAND (Co-Regie), TV-Dokumentation
2022 HINTER GUTEN TÜREN, Dokumentarfilm Hof 2023
“Parents who abuse their children don’t usually talk about it publicly. Our mother does. And my brother also participates, although, or precisely because, he sees things completely differently from me.
What is interesting, therefore, is the discussion between us, my attempt to talk to him for the very first time – outcome uncertain.
I consciously decided to step in front of the camera as a director as well, also because ‘being a victim’ is still considered shameful. This is exactly what creates the silence. This protects the perpetrators and the status quo of raising children as a ‘private matter’. I would like to end this silence.”
Julia Beerhold
- Producer
- Torsten Reglin
- Roswitha Ester
