Ein Traum in Erdbeerfolie

Comrade Couture

This film undertakes a journey into the amazing parallel universe of East Berlin′s fashion designers and experts in the art of survival. For, in the midst of the constraints of life in the GDR, there existed a fantasy world where it was possible to dance to another tune, be individual and even provocative. The most important characteristic of this bohemian scene was one′s personal style. But this certainly wasn′t something that could be bought off the peg in the GDR. In this parallel universe it was up to you to create your own individual image – with your own hands. This film tells the story of the desires, the passion and the dreams that were tried and tested, lived and performed in the shadow of the Berlin Wall.

Director Marco Wilms, who himself once worked as a model for the GDR′s ′fashion institute′, sets out to recreate this unique feeling of light-hearted experimentation free of economic dictates and the bid to be completely different. Looking up the heroes of his East German youth – designer Sabine von Oettingen, photographer Robert Paris and stylist and hairdresser Frank Schäfer – he explores with them their colourful parallel-universelives. It′s been twenty years since the proponents and friends of the legendary East Berlin avant-garde ′fashion theatre′ "Chic, Charmant und Dauerhaft" and "Allerleirauh" last met. In this film, they come together once more at a subversive ′Eastern bloc′ party thrown by Wilms.

"Ein Traum in Erdbeerfolie" is a humorous film about creativity as a life force – and the never-ending desire for individual freedom.

Source: 59. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue)