Couv Cat 2009 - Eurodoc

Cycle 2009 Chapter
ZERO ONE FILM ANN CAROLIN RENNINGER
GOLDRUSH
DIRECTOR : DIRK LAABS
“GOLDRUSH” tells the controversial story of the Treuhand-Agency, the holding that was responsible
for the privatisiation of the economy of the former GDR. The Treuhand was supposed to sell factories,
companies and real estate in an orderly fashion, thus privatising an entire country in one tour de
force. A unique experiment that had never taken place anywhere else in the world.
The dramatic story of the trust agency experiment proves what happens when market economy
crashes into an economically underdeveloped nation without any safety hatch. Many of the players
instinctively understood that even a bankrupt state offers opportunities to earn money – for those
without any scruples. In the end the trust agency collected 250 Million Marks of debt on every single
day of the three and a half year of its existence. Criminals defrauded 20 Billion Marks. Many former
GDR citizens still consider the trust agency the “gravedigger” of East Germany. A film about one of
the most exciting chapters of German post-war history.
LA RUÉE VERS L’OR raconte l’histoire très controversée de la “Treuhand“, organisme chargé de la
privatisation de la RDA. La “Treuhand” était responsable d’organiser la vente des entreprises, des
fabriques et des terrains de la RDA, et donc de privatiser le pays d’un seul coup. Une expérience
unique en son genre dans le monde entier.
L’histoire dramatique de la “Treuhand“ montre ce qui peut arriver quand une économie de marché
peut tout faire, sans limites, dans un pays économiquement sous-developpé. De plus, beaucoup
d’acteurs ont compris instinctivement que l’on peut gagner beaucoup d’argent dans un pays en
faillite, si l’on est sans scrupules. Finalement, ce sont 250 millions de marks par jour que la
“Treuhand“ a perdu en trois ans. Elle a été flouée par des criminels de plus de 20 milliards de marks.
Beaucoup de citoyens est-allemands pensent encore aujourd’hui que la “Treuhand“ aura été le
fossoyeur de l’Allemagne de l’Est. C’est un film sur l’un des chapitres les plus captivants de l’histoire
de l’Allemagne d’après-guerre.
BIOFILMOGRAPHY
Born in Hamburg (1973). Author and filmmaker. Reporter since 2001 for the “Los Angeles Times”
and the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung”. Laabs is an expert for international and Islamist
terrorism. He worked as a lecturer for the Henri-Nannen-School and was a consultant for Channel
4, the John Jay College for Criminal Justice, New York and for Marc Sageman.
Filmography as Director (selection):
“Who’s Afraid of America?” (2008, 52’, ZDF/ARTE), “Disco Sucks“ (2008, 52’, ZDF/ARTE), “The
OPEC-operation – terror attack in Vienna” (2007, 53’, ZDF/ARTE), “Strangers in Paradise – Why
God’s Warriors Kill” (2006, 66’, ZDF/ARTE), “An Almost Perfect Crime – Who Shot Marta Rosso?”
(2005, 45’, WDR)
PARTICIPANTS
27
LENGTH : 90 MIN