Germany 2023, 90 min, German, Hebrew & English subtitles
“Prostitutes, transvestites, alcoholics, and the mentally ill. That’s where I feel at home. That’s the world that needs to be captured.” Jürgen Baldiga followed his heart, went all in, and kept nothing close to his chest. This was true in his personal life as well as his career, which began when he was an inexperienced but very self-assured youth with a talent for capturing life on the fringes—somewhere between Diane Arbus and Nan Goldin. His attraction to surrealism and the bizarre is evident in his black-and-white photographs chronicling the day-to-day and night-to-night of gays and queers, set against the dark and violent urban backdrop of ‘80s-and-early-’90s West Berlin. Drawing insightful connections between art and life, passion and obliteration, this immersive and creative documentary never slows down, much like its subject.
Previous Festivals: Berlinale, Roze Filmdagen, BFI Flare Film Festival, Krakow Film Festival
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