Throwback89 – The Diary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall
I worked as Co-Writer and Co-Director on the Web Series Throwback89 – The Diary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. This NDR production was created for @Tagesschau on Instagram. The video diary was published from 18th October 2019 – 9th November 2019 and reached over 4 Mio Views. We succeeded in creating an immersive and appealing experience for a young audience to dive into this historic topic. The series was honored with the Best Screenplay Award of the International Mobile Motion Film Festival 2020 (Switzerland).
Rostock in September 1989. 17-year-old Nora Sommerfeld has to do two more years at school before going to university. When her best friend Johanna fled to West Germany in the summer holidays, the foundations of Nora's world started to shake. East Germany is caught in a process of unprecedented change and Nora has no-one she can really open up to. So she records her daily life in a video diary. She talks about her new boyfriend Falk, who is a punk, about the pressure she is under at school, and about the demonstrators demanding free speech and a different kind of socialism.
The fictional narrative has been combined with archive footage from Aktuelle Kamera and Tagesschau (the East German and West German news programmes respectively) and from Elf99, an East German TV programme for teenagers. Throwback89 is an Instagram series that brings the history of the two Germanys to life.
Throwback89 was set up as a transmedia experience with content on Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Facebook and a website.
Awards
Best Screenplay Award of the International Mobile Motion Film Festival 2020, Zürich Switzerland (Ira Wedel, Nil Idil Çakmak, Ricarda Saleh)
Deutscher Digital Award 2020 2 x silver / Category Social/Dialog and Category Digital for Good
ADC Awards 2020 bronze Category Social Media / silver Category AR Experience
EBU Connect Online Awards Gold Category Best Use of Social Media
Alternativer Medienpreis 2020 (Nomination)
Cast:
Hanna Binke, Laura Leyh, Marco Wittorf, Anton Schneider, Bill Becker, Ella Dittmann, Laila Richter, Jonas David, Belá Weimar-Dittmar, Lara-Maria Wichels
Idea & Directed by: Nil Idil Çakmak und Ricarda Saleh |Screenplay: Nil Idil Çakmak, Ricarda Saleh, Ira Wedel | NDR Executive Producers: Svenja Freise, Katharina Fuxius, Philipp Goewe |Tagesschau Executive Producers: Timo Spieß, André Steins, Patrick Weinhold |Artwork: la red GmbH |Director of Photography: Alexander Pfalzgraf | Editing: Aaron Moser | Production: Oliver Gebhard, Alizza Mundt, Nora Wehrhahn | Production Design: Adrian Dallarosa | Sound: Thomas Schimmack | Costume Design: Anna Greta Klein, Christian Roehrs | Make-up artist: Katharina Heep, Bettina Schütze | NDR Marketing and Distribution: Marten Schlegel |Graphic Design: Christoph Lohse, Jakob Rompkowski, Dörte Stein
