DOK Leipzig - Contemporary German Documentary - A Selection

Stroke

Katarina Peters

It is 1998: An artistic couple comes to New York. He negotiates a deal with a record company, while she is making a documentary. Half a year after their wedding, 33 year old cellist Boris Baberkoff suffers severe multiple strokes and ends ‘locked in,’ a prisoner of his own brain. He can hear but is unable to move or communicate; his chances of even partial recovery appear slim. In desperation, his wife Katarina intuitively takes up her cam. She records her husband’s hard and even slow healing process in intensive care, rehabilitation centers and everyday life. She puts her own fears and experiences in this film, a mix of dreams and inner monologue. The result is an intricate and very private autobiographical recording of a couple that, under difficult circumstances, tries to preserve its love and creativity.

Katarina Peters

Katarina Peters is born in Hamburg in 1958, has lived in Berlin since 1981. 1978-81 attended San Francisco Art Institute (Sculpture, Film, Performance), 1981-86 University of the Arts, Berlin (Visual Communication). In 1986 she has founded Katarina Peters Filmproduktion. She worked as Sound engineer and set designer for theater, film und TV productions Filmography: ‘Keep Your Mind on a Hot Man’ (1981), ‘Am rand der erde’ (1986), ‘Zentri-fuge’ (1986), ‘Mascha und Gelb’ (1995), ‘Am seidenen faden’ (2004).

General sponsor

Am Seidenen Faden

Germany
2004, 111', color, video

Directed by:
Katarina Peters

Screenplay by:
Katarina Peters

Cinematography:
Katarina Peters, Christopher Rowe, Roger von Heereman

Edited by:
Friederike Anders, Marian Bichler, Petra Heymann

Music:
Boris Baberkoff

Producer:
Katarina Peters

Produced by:
Katarina Peters Filmproduktion

Festivals & Awards:

Leipzig 2004 - Silver Dove, FIPRESCI Prize, Prize of the Eucumenical Jury, Prize of the Youth Jury, Prize of the DEFA–Foundation 2005; New Berlin Film Award 2005; Ecofilms - Special Mention; Docfestival Saratov 2005 - First Prize, Audience Award; Moldawien 2006, Award Cine Verité Superfest 2007 - Award of Achievement