Gwendolin Szyszkowitz-Schwingel
Marc Lepetit
JUNG WILD GRENZENLOS – WOCHENENDE IN DEN 90ERN (original title)
UFA DOCUMENTARY • Documentary & Factual • ARD media library • 16.11.2022 and on 28.05.2023 on MDRFour-part documentary series now available in the ARD media library and on May 28, 2023 as a 90-minute series at 8.15 p.m. on MDR
Back to the 90s: Eurodance, grunge, techno and the revival of Ostrock – no time is as musically exciting as the 90s. In a four-part media series, MDR brings this decade and its youth back to life.
With the fall of communism, the east of the republic is transformed into a huge adventure playground. Restrictions and bans are lifted. This creates unprecedented freedom, but familiar structures also fall away. It is a time between awakening and decline. However, the hunger for pleasure supersedes the existential fears of most 16-26 year olds. International artists are now also appearing in the East. At the same time, the inventiveness between Rostock and Gera is blossoming in various styles. Industrial wastelands become clubs or new large-scale discos are created on the drawing board on greenfield sites.
Alexander Kühne and Kathrin Schwiering, directors: “It’s exciting for us to shed light on the 90s youth culture in the East and the positive energy with which many young people are starting out in the new system. We don’t have any of the whiners. Our heroes and heroines don’t just swim on new waves and forget them again. They live grunge, Eurodance, techno and East rock in uncertain times and seek stability in it. The music and rituals shape their entire lives to this day. With the series JUNG WILD GRENZENLOS, we want to bring this to life for viewers. Authentic, up close and emotional”.
Gwendolin Szyszkowitz-Schwingel, Managing Director and Producer of UFA Documentary: “I have long wanted to produce another film with Alexander Kühne, this time about the time after the fall of the Berlin Wall. His tragicomic talent to describe authentic characters and thus the image of a time is fascinating. I am all the more pleased that he, together with his partner and director Kathrin Schwiering, has now produced this extraordinary series for us. When you see it, you immediately want to dance. Is there anything better in times like these?”
To the content
Together with protagonists from East Germany who experienced their youth in the post-reunification period, we look back: Yvonne Rubitzsch, 14 years old at the time of reunification, makes the discos of her hometown Leipzig unsafe, while Jana Bergmann from Freital in Saxony drives her Opel all over the East – always following the Puhdys, her great idols. Jana Lyons travels every weekend on the Reichsbahn from Genthin in Saxony-Anhalt to Berlin, where she dances the night away with her buddy Frank Blümel at Club Tresor and Turbine. Denise Walker and Thomas Schöne from southern Brandenburg like it harder: they go to concerts by Rage Against the Machine or Pantera and sometimes get knocked out in front of the stage while moshing.
Similar to the MDR documentary “Lugau City Lights”, which was nominated for the German Documentary Film Award in 2020, these stories are presented in the form of authentic re-enactments with extras. The Hi8 video camera used for this creates a fantastic 90s feeling at the original locations. Realistic-looking scenes are the common thread running through the entire documentary.
Additional archive material from the fall of communism, unemployment and reorientation has been added. Rare private archive footage provides the opportunity to revive exciting stories that have never been told before.
The documentary series also features many East German stars who talk about their new beginnings after reunification: Guitarist Paul Landers recalls the founding of his band “Rammstein”, now Germany’s biggest cultural export. Jana Groß talks about her sensational success with “Bell, Book & Candle”. Paul van Dyk tells how he almost became a carpenter before becoming the most successful DJ in the world.
More information about the series
JUNG WILD GRENZENLOS – WOCHENENDE IN DEN 90ERN is a production by UFA Documentary for the ARD Mediathek on behalf of MDR. It was directed by Alexander Kühne and Kathrin Schwiering and produced by Gwendolin Szyszkowitz-Schwingel and Marc Lepetit. The editors are Matthias Göpfert and Andreas Fritsch (MDR).
The special documentary series has been available for streaming in the ARD Mediathek since November 16, 2022.
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