After World War I, Berlin is a city of two faces. There is political unrest, inflation, a housing shortage, and increasing political radicalization – but also a vibrant nightlife of subcultures, sexual diversity, emancipation, and the search for social utopias. At the centre of all this, like the imaginary land of milk and honey: KaDeWe, Berlin’s internationally famed luxury department store, founded and successfully run by the Jandorfs, a family of Jewish entrepreneurs. In this unique setting, the lives of Hedi, Fritzi, Harry, and Georg become intertwined.
Astonishingly, it is during a robbery at KaDeWe that a magical encounter takes place between Hedi, a saleswoman in the textiles department, and Fritzi, the daughter of KaDeWe owner Adolf Jandorf. It is love at first sight: braving social and family opposition, the two very different young women begin a passionate relationship. At the same time, Fritzi’s older brother Harry, a war veteran, struggles to get his father’s approval as the new junior manager of KaDeWe – and to overcome his own despondency. The current owner of the store is sceptical of Harry’s costly visions and appoints a co-manager, reliable company executive Georg, who has worked his way up at KaDeWe. And Georg, of all people, is the one to play a decisive role in the department store’s fate... But approaching the end of an eventful decade with significant political changes, both the existence of KaDeWe and the four friends’ future is at stake...
Eldorado KaDeWe
Julia von Heinz
Born in 1976 in Berlin. Studied and attained a Doctorate degree at the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf. Active as a director, screenwriter, producer and professor.
2008 | Alles was am Ende zählt | Spielfilm | |
Standesgemäß | Dokumentarfilm | 2008 | |
2012 | Hanni und Nanni 2 | Spielfilm | |
Rosakinder | Dokumentarfilm Co-Regie |
2012 | |
2013 | Hannas Reise | Spielfilm | 2013 |
2015 | Ich bin dann mal weg | Spielfilm | |
2017 | Katharina Luther | TV-Film | |
2018 | Für immer und dich | TV-Film | 2018 |
2020 | Und morgen die ganze Welt | Spielfilm | 2020 |
This mini-series incorporates everything I wish to stand for as a director and writer: rebellion, resistance against fascism, outsiders who grow beyond themselves, utopias, and a deep, unexpected love, as well as surrealism on a cinematic level. Once again, looking into my own family history and at my two grandfathers helped me to understand the characters Harry Jandorf and Georg Karg. And I was able to film the idea of a self-chosen family again with the fictional women, Fritzi and Hedi, who come together after huge difficulties and start a family. Once again, I did this with my cinematographer Daniela Knapp, who had already filmed Lucie and Vera in the same situation. This series has endured and will be shown this year at the Jewish Film Festival in Jerusalem, dealing as it does with compensation for Jewish property, a theme that was already a focal point of Hannas Reise and Treasure. The “Aryanization” of KaDeWe is still an open, unresolved case with the heirs of the Tietz family. This is why the series’ broadcast led to trouble and the threat of a preliminary injunction, but ARD succeeded in defending its position. The cinematic concept of the present day, blurring the 1920s and 2020s, was proven correct once again.