An East German gay cult classic that premiered the night the wall fell. A collaboration with Film and Television Cultures graduates from Utrecht University.
A story about the turbulent love life of one high school teacher as he navigates his sexuality. Philip meets his co-worker Tanja, and before they know it they are engaged. But then he falls head over heels with Matthias, a young man he meets at an East Berlin gay bar. Soon, Tanja and Philip’s marriage declines. Is it salvageable? When his two partners accidentally meet, Philip plunges himself into cruising as an attempt to escape the situation. But everything takes a turn for the worse when his work learns about his sexuality.
The movie is accompanied by a talk from graduates of the MA Film and Television Cultures at Utrecht University. As part of the NWO-funded research project When Queer Cinema Came to Germany – Salzgeber and the Evolution of Film Distribution (1985–2025) , Negar Asgharifard, Alana Berends, Bilge Ekşi, and Charlotte van Dijssel spent two months analyzing the film by experimenting with digital methods and tools. Their experiments in “deforming” the film, along with a video essay on encounters in Coming Out , are shown prior to the screening.
Organized and in collaboration with the MA Film and Television Cultures and the research groups Media and Performance and MI3: Media Industries, Infrastructures and Institutions at Utrecht University.