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Approval was given to make The Architects in December of Nonetheless, DEFA continually postponed the start of production throughout most of the following year. Filming finally began on October 2, By this time, things had heated up considerably in East Germany.
Two months earlier, Hungary had opened its border and thousands of East Germans fled the country through this passage. In Prague and Warsaw, still more sought extradition through the West German embassies, and were eventually granted it, they boarded a train for the west which went through East German. People lined up to see the train and a few brave souls attempted to jump on. Meanwhile starting on Monday, September 4 at the St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig, attendees began staging peaceful protests after their prayer meetings.
By October 9—two days after the celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the German Democratic Republic—over 70, people attended the march. The following week, over , people showed up The week after that, the number increased to ,; and this in a city with a population of , people! In a feeble attempt to stave off further protests, the politburo ousted Honecker claiming it was for health reasons and replaced him with Egon Krenz, an ineffectual apparatchik who had spent his entire career avoiding rocking the boat.
The ruling was supposed to take place the following day, giving the officials time to set new procedures in place; but nobody had bothered to inform Schabowski of this. This was rescinded a few hours later and everyone was allowed to cross freely back and forth across the border. Within hours every store in West Berlin was sold out of fruit, candy, and porn. Meanwhile, Kahane kept filming. An American press team came up to them and asked what they would do now that they were free.
Nothing was as certain as death and the Wall.
But only part of the blame for this can be laid at the feet of the Zeitgeist. The Architects is a hard film to love. For one thing, its protagonist—like the main character in Your Unknown Brother —spends most of his time in a deep funk. But unlike Your Unknown Brother , there are no scenes of Kafkaesque peculiarity to break things up. Instead, Kahane uses shots of the stark plattenbauen of Marzahn for the interstitial scenes. Kahane infuses the film with very little humor, and when he does it is usually mordant.
Most of the time people are either expressing their pessimism or having their hopes shot down. When this scene was shot, the border was already open and the wall was in immediate danger of being torn down. Kahane had to position the cameras carefully to avoid showing the lighting platforms that the western news media were using to broadcast events.
Perhaps, had Kahane incorporated the Wende into his script, the film would have fared better at the box office. It would have, at least, added a note of optimism to an otherwise bleak story. But as a document to the frustrations that creative people faced in the GDR, it is unparalleled. Some films most notably, The Rabbit is Me were shelved after playing briefly in theaters, while others e. One film that managed to squeak through the initial purge was The Trace of Stones Spur der Steine —partly because it was still being worked on when the Plenum occurred, and partly because it was based on one of the most popular books in East Germany.
But it was doomed. After all, it was a film about a party leader who cheats on his wife and a likable anti-hero who flouts authority at every turn. Never mind that the book concludes with the anti-hero embracing the party philosophy, any story that dared to come near the touchy subject of SED politics after the 11th Plenum was treading on dangerous ground. The Trace of Stones is the story of two competing work projects in the fictional towns of Schkona und Leupau thinly disguised versions of Schkopau and Leuna: At one of the sites, a man named Hannes Balla runs things his own way.
He is not averse to cheating and bribery if it keeps his crew in work. As building materials become more scarce, Balla and his gang finds ways to get what they need to keep their project on track. The party officials are not completely happy with this, but Balla gets the work done, so they look the other way. Into this scenario come two idealists: Werner Horrath, a by-the-book party leader, and Kati Klee, a young female Engineer. Soon a romantic triangle develops between Horrath, Klee, and Balla, which sends the delicate equilibrium of the community tilting out of control.
Some critics have compared The Trace of Stones to an American western. If anything, it resembles that other American classic, The Scarlet Letter. And like the errant Reverend Dimmesdale, Werner Horrath is basically a good man who keeps his adultery a secret until he can no longer stand the hypocrisy. Balla—in spite of his love for anti-authoritarian antics—is a man of strong principles. He believes in the goals of the party, and even when he does things that break the rules his reasons are sound.
At the beginning of the movie, he seems like the most amoral one in the lot, but by the end, he seems like the most righteous. After squeaking by the authorities with a few minor cuts, the film opened in theaters, but party officials decided they had made a mistake. In a feeble attempt to rectify the situation, they sent people to the theater to sit in the audience and boo and shout. The film ran only three days. This decision by the party officials shows just how confused and wrong-headed they had become in the wake of the eleventh plenum. At its core, the film is about a renegade scofflaw who realizes the importance of governing laws.
Throughout the film, Balla examines the East German way of life, and comes to the conclusion that, whatever its faults, it is better than the west. If anything, The Trace of Stones is a defense of the system, but there was no explaining this to the party officials in He was sent to work in theater until , when, thanks to the loosening of a restriction on DEFA after Honecker took over, he was allowed to make a couple in TV movies. In , he returned to feature films with a bang: At the time, Ms. Stypulkowska spoke no German, so her voice was provided by the popular East German film star, Jutta Hoffmann.
In an interview, Ms. To play Hannes Balla, Manfred Krug was chosen. At that point, Krug was best known to East German audiences as a singer. He had done dramatic films already e. As one of the many people in the East German film community to protest against the expatriation of Wolf Biermann in , Krug found himself blacklisted. He asked to be allowed to move to the FRG, and his request was granted in Krug has gone on to publish four more books in Germany.
He lives in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, where he has resided since he left East Germany. Werner Horrath, the adulterous Communist party secretary is played by Eberhard Esche.
In some ways, Esche has the most difficult role. In western literature, the adulterer usually comes off as a complete cad, never intending to tell the wife about his lover or to marry his mistress. Horrath is not exactly a cad, but we are never sure if he is going to do the right thing. This creates an interesting tension in the character.
At times we like him, and at other times we want to slap some sense into him. In terms of strength of character, he is no match for Balla. The Trace of Stones is also notable for one of the most amusingly self-deprecating lines in East German cinema. Shortly after Kati Klee arrives at the worksite, Balla stops by her room and asks if she wants to go out on a date. IMDB page for this film. For its first 25 years, two things kept the rest of the world from learning that East Germany was producing some of the best films in Europe. But it is really an East German film, and it was the first—and is still the only—German film to ever win the Prix du Jury at Cannes.
To add irony to the insult, the film, which was popular in East Germany, was banned in Bulgaria. Stars is a classic doomed love story about a German soldier who falls in love with a Jewish prisoner. The soldier, who is known only as Walter, is a would-be painter who has been drafted into the war effort and finds himself in a small Bulgarian village, guarding Jewish prisoners from Greece.
The prisoners are on their way to Auschwitz. There, they are told, they will work on vegetable farms. So do most of them, but no one wants to acknowledge it. Walter is trying to do his duty as a good German soldier, but his conscience keeps getting in the way. German soldiers were always portrayed as loyal to the death to the Third Reich, and therefore always the bad guys. Stars gives us a much more nuanced picture. Kurt has been to Auschwitz and there is some evidence that he knows what is happening there is wrong.
But Kurt prefers not to think to hard about the situation and alleviates any qualms he may have by staying drunk as often as possible. As Ruth, the headstrong Jewish prisoner, Sasha Krusharska turns in as close to a perfect performance as one could hope for. She is strong and vulnerable, tender and hard, and, unlike most of the actresses that were chosen to play similar roles in Hollywood e.
She is also stunning, and it is easy to see why a young soldier would fall for her. Sadly, Krusharska only starred in one more film The Last Round , or Posledniyat rund before marrying and settling down with Bulgarian film director Rangel Vulchanov. Vulchanov had worked as a consultant director on Stars. Their daughter, Ani Vulchanova, has gone on to become a successful actress in Bulgaria.
In , feature films that dealt directly with the holocaust were still relatively rare. In the United States, the true horror of Auschwitz was still an abstract concept. Even in the GDR, which was far less averse to examining its Nazi past than the west was, the talk in films of concentration camps was mostly about the experiences of the political prisoners rather than the extermination the Jews The Council of the Gods came the closest, with its discussion of the manufacturing ot Zyklon B.
Stars was written by the Bulgarian author Angel Wagenstein.
Wagenstein, a Sephardic Jew, was arrested and condemned to death for anti-fascist sabotage during the war, but was liberated when the Soviet Army invaded the country. After the war, Wagenstein enrolled at the S. Upon returning to Bulgaria, he started writing scripts for Boyana Film, the state-owned film company. Wagenstein wrote the script for Stars in seven days, although he said he thought about it for 77 days before that and had already lived through the events depicted. Konrad Wolf, however, was interested.
Wolf has just finished making Sun Seekers, only to see it shelved for political reasons. Perhaps Stars would fare better with the authorities. More recently, he has turned to book writing. His books have been published in eleven languages. That means part of our Urban Efforts involves access to public transportation and access to bicycle parking. Join us in promoting sustainability by taking Metro St. Just show us your bike or a valid Metro St. We also know that many of you are looking to work out those beer muscles so we will be holding Masskrugstemmen stein holding contest competitions at 2pm, 4pm, and 6pm!
The winner of each round will get a free 1 liter bier, an Oktoberfest stein, and will be entered into the final Masskrugstemmen competition on Sunday at Oktoberfest ! Celebrate our Signature Ale with these nutty specials: Louis is fortunate to have some wonderful groups dedicated to celebrating women in craft beer. You can also take Metro or ride your bike! For more details, please refer to the Maifest poster below…. At some point, what was an ancient pagan festival took on Christian religious significance and is now a colorful, joyous part of history and culture that is celebrated annually, not only in Bavaria, but in many towns around the world.
Prost to new beginnings and Bock biers! Ah there once was a Belgian from Uccle, who liked to eat frites with his broth full of cockle. And though he was from near Ghent, and liked his grain well spent. His brewing ability matched his name of De Bockle. This beer though is actually pretty darn good. Maximilian I, Duke of Bavaria, was responsible for the permittance of wheat being used in German brewing.
When considering the physical attributes of an Ox, one might use similar words to describe this traditional Doppelbock. Introducing the Urban Chestnut Box of Bocks! Look for them on shelves in the next few weeks AND at our Maifest celebration on May 9th …keep checking back for updates! In Louisiana, the arrival of Spring is celebrated with a crawfish boil, an event popular amongst all cultural and age groups.
Louis, Spring is the arrival of Biergarten season, an institution joining people from all walks of life. At UCBC, we just really like the idea of people gathering for food and beer! Enjoy peeling these tasty little crustaceans while you sip from a stein of UCBC bier and kick back to the bayou tunes of the Zydeco Crawdaddys! The days are getting longer and our hours too!
Look for it in stores in and around the St. With its roasty and smooth character, our traditional, nitrogenated Irish Dry Stout makes us wonder if brewmaster Florian Kuplent actually hails from the Emerald Isle! Louis-area commercial properties into LEED certified buildings.
It also features a solar panel array, easy access to public transportation, bike storage, and an assortment of other energy saving features, all of which help reduce fossil fuel costs and the carbon footprint of the brewery and its customers. Urban Chestnut serves as a showcase for the City of St. Louis on how a reuse of a building can really impact a neighborhood The Grove positively for the future. And just last month, they announced plans to open a third brewery later this year, Urban Chestnut Hallertauer Brauerei , in the Hallertau region of Bavaria in Wolnzach, Germany.
Louis metro area, but with about 30, bbls of annual brewing capacity now on-line, the new operation in the Grove has allowed Urban Chestnut to expand its brewing output, and provide the brewery with the ability to increase its distribution footprint.
This week, Urban Chestnut is preparing to open up the Chicago market. Louis, where it brews both small batches of artisanal, modern American beers their Revolution series and classically-crafted European styles their Reverence series. The Hand Family Company has been in business since the s, and to this day, remains family owned and operated. Lakeshore Beverage attributes its recent growth to a commitment to developing the finest employees who work closely with brewery partners and customers to create memorable opportunities to enjoy great beer together.
Urban Chestnut has been exporting small quantities of beer to Germany since Actually owning and operating a brewery in Bavaria will provide us with a solid platform for growth via direct interaction with local beer drinkers and with beer drinkers visiting the Hallertau region during their beer pilgrimages. Urban Chestnut plans to open the brewery in Wolnzach a bit later in And while the new brewery will be the smallest of the three UCBC breweries, it will carry a big load.
The Wolnzach operation will be utilized to brew beers to distribute in Europe as well as to brew unique, German-brewed beers to export to the U. Urban Chestnut currently receives weekly container shipments of raw materials, their standard. Links to reviews of the winning beers are posted below:. The complete beer category results can be found here! Bring your family and friends and check it out: Both locations will be closed Thanksgiving Day, and we will resume normal hours on Friday. The wait is finally OVER! Look for it wherever craft beer is sold. Need we say more?! Our Stammtisch was brewed to celebrate this idea of community and socializing.
More information about the competition can be found here. Introducing our newest Revolution vs. Look for them on shelves in the St. Louis area in the next few weeks…check back for updates!
Menu item offerings change frequently. Check out our current menu to see what Andy is offering up every week:. The film will begin after sunset about 7: Enjoy fresh hop and pumpkin beers from UCBC AND over 20 other local breweries along with food trucks, live music and other fall festivities. Check out the details and purchase tickets here: Oktoberfest Saint Louis is set for Sept. Traditional Oktoberfest contests be sure to bring your A game! Fans of our 8-pack samplers will find this one a bit different than our previous ones.
Although the third largest craft brewery producing and selling beer in the state of Missouri, Urban Chestnut had been constrained by its capacity and was limited in distributing their beers primarily to the St. As a matter of fact, we were just able to open Jefferson County, with H. Urban Chestnut will be partnering with N. Scheppers Distributing Company, founded in by Norb Scheppers, acquired the distribution rights to sell Anheuser-Busch products for Boone and Callaway Counties in Two years later, the territory was expanded to include Cole, Osage, most of Moniteau and a portion of Miller Counties.
The company, with offices in Columbia and Jefferson City, recently celebrated its 50th Anniversary as a distributor of Anheuser-Busch products. From its humble beginnings as a one-person operation, N. Scheppers Distributing Company has grown into a multi-faceted operation with over 60 employees dedicated to serving our customers and the community. NHSDC has set the standard for beverage distribution in Mid-Missouri, operating 15 delivery routes, and warehouse facilities in Columbia and Jefferson City to ensure prompt delivery and consistent availability of the freshest beer in the industry for our customers.
Major Brands is a leading Missouri distributor of premium spirits, wine, beer and non-alcoholic beverages, and the largest distributor that remains Missouri-owned and operated. With offices in St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, Columbia and Cape Girardeau, Major Brands employs more than people and serves more than 9, retail customers throughout the state. Major Brands represents an outstanding product portfolio that ranges from the leading global brands to locally produced craft beers, distilled spirits and Missouri wines. Check out the full results here.
The competition provides an opportunity for commercially produced beers to be judged against the best beers in the country. The event is conducted as a single blind sampling followed by rank ordering of the entries within a category. Bockbiers are essentially strong lager beers of German origin. Taste samples of 4 different single hop beers with cheese pairings and enjoy one full pour of your favorite beer. Live music from Wack-a-doo. There is free parking in the lot east of the building by the docks and in the small lot just north of the building off of Oakland Ave.
Our new location is also easily accessible by MetroBus, and we provide indoor bike storage. Tickets are limited to and can be purchased. Look for these new 9-packs on shelves today in a St. Louis store near you! We will not have a credit card reader or ATM on-site on Sunday, so if you plan to eat from the food trucks or buy shirts from Art Farm…. Also, please be courteous to our neighbors as you find parking in the Grove and as you leave the event…. So far the result from the first barrel we sampled is a dry, fruity, similar to a Flemish Brown although less tart , approximately 9.
Urban Chestnut won 2 gold medals, 1 silver and 1 bronze in 3 different categories! On October 25th, our brand new Braukon brewhouse arrived in St. Construction is still going on, so we have about months to go. Click on this link to see a video of the Urban Chestnut Braukon brewhouse being unloaded!
Louis, MO craft brewery, has announced they are in the planning stages to open a second and significantly larger production brewery also located in the city of Saint Louis. Louis within the next two years. Louis Green Street , an innovative real estate firm recognized for the sustainable redevelopment of underutilized St. The two former Anheuser-Busch veterans and co-founders of Urban Chestnut, Florian Kuplent and David Wolfe, have been working with Green Street for over a year to identify a property that would meet their collective vision.
Louis, and like Schlafly and many of the other small brewers located here in St. Louis beer drinkers and our retail partners to thank for that! Urban Chestnut brewed around bbls in and expects to brew approximately bbls in Founded in early and located at Washington Avenue in Midtown St. Louis, it brews both small batches of artisanal, modern American beers their Revolution series and classically-crafted European styles their Reverence series.
The founders are Florian Kuplent and David Wolfe. Wolfe is a year beer industry member, who was with Anheuser-Busch as well, prior to joining Kuplent in founding Urban Chestnut. Louis is an entrepreneurial, full-service real estate solutions provider. Green Street distinguishes itself through the application of sustainable design and building principles in the adaptive reuse of infill locations. With a focus on user objectives, Green Street provides a comprehensive and integrative suite of services from project conception through construction leading to operational success for our clients.
The Box Tops — The Letter Oh, and did we mention your first survey will be on us?! Sampha — Gon Stay The Da Vincis — Paper Planes He has appeared on various televisions shows and movies, and has released several albums of songs.
What has four holes, eight necks, weighs about 16 pounds, and is orange and blue all over? Well, just like our previous two UCBC variety pack releases this Revolution Orange and Reverence Blue beauty has four windows holes that allow you to see the eight, necked not naked bottles of beer that together weigh about 16 pounds.
Besides finding two bottles each of Winged Nut Chestnut Ale and Zwickel Unfiltered Bavarian Lager inside the little fellas, the thrill-seeking, variety-loving, thirsty men and women who take the leap and make the purchase will enjoy two more bottles each of…wait for it…. Label shown to the left.
Editorial Reviews. About the Author. WernerJ. Egli is an accomplished Swiss writer with novels for all ages, published inGerman-speaking Europe, where he. Hardcover; Publisher: Kyrene Literaturverlag; Language: German; ISBN Start reading Im Springen eines Steines: Eine tour noir (German Edition) on your .
We believe it is so and thus have created a Black Pumpkin Wheat Ale in his honor… a bier noir if you will. With over 80 events, the St. Louis Craft Beer week celebrates beer lovers, beer drinkers and beer brewers in St. This documentary chronicles the growth of craft beer featuring conversations with several local brewers.
Keep the Stein Night. Get all the info about the week including event details and beer dinner menus here: Check out the results here. Sample Beer from over 20 St. Louis Brewers Guild breweries. Tickets will increase on May 16 th. Here are some highlights:. Our Merch section has all new and updated merchandise available for sale through our website. Urban Efforts is a new edition that outlines our goals to reduce our carbon footprint and to support not-for-profit organizations. A special thank you goes out to Marketing28 for making this possible! Come eat, drink, and be merry!
WinterMarkt Saturday, Dec. Beneath the City of St. Louis are remnants of historic lagering caves that date back to as early as the s. Learn about their historical use gleaned from remaining artifacts. Links to reviews of the winning beers are posted below: Pop-Up Page do not edit.
Sun Sat Sat Novmber: Sat Sun Sat Sat December: Sat Sat Sat February: Sat Sat Sat Sat March: In addition to our regular Grove menu, we will also feature the following food items for purchase in the warehouse: Goulash with potato dumplings Bavarian Pretzels Porchetta popcorn Lamb porchetta sandwiches Beet and bacon sausage with collard kraut Day of the Dead nachos Dress warmly!
Zwickel, Urban Underdog Draught: Bring your friendly, social pooch to St. Vinyl Night also features: Celebrate with us with these specials and events: Cook Follow us on the socials to find out when our next New Point of Brew is scheduled! Maifest will feature: Intended Use see all Intended Use. Brand see all Brand. Custom Bundle see all Custom Bundle. Condition see all Condition. Item location see all Item location. Show only see all Show only. Amounts shown in italicised text are for items listed in currency other than Euros and are approximate conversions to Euros based upon Bloomberg's conversion rates.
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