Lieber Thomas

Dear Thomas

This biographical film illuminates the life of the writer, director and provocateur Thomas Brasch. From a young age, he proved to have a rebellious nature and started to feel alienated in the authoritarian GDR. While his father Horst was actively involved in helping build the young German state, Thomas longed for a fulfilled and free life as a writer and filmmaker. Confrontation was inevitable: his very first play was banned, and Thomas was also expelled from film school. This didn't deter him, but a protest in Berlin against the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 proved to be the final straw: Horst betrayed his son and turned him over to the Stasi. After a short time in prison, Thomas was released on parole, but his literary works about love, death and revolt were not well received in the GDR. With his great love, Thomas left home and fled to the West. Despite overwhelming artistic successes, he remained restless there as well.