Quarterly 4 · 2006 - German Cinema

Zeit ohne Eltern
TIME WITHOUT PARENTS
Two daughters, two pairs of parents, two families representing
an estimated figure of some one million affected
people in the former GDR.
Time Without Parents tells the story of Jana Simon and
Franziska Kriebisch who both grew up in the GDR. They
didn’t know each other but shared the same fate of being
separated from their parents from one day to the next
after the secret police arrested them. Jana’s parents are
arrested after trying to escape with their children;
Franziska’s parents are arrested after applying for an exit
visa. Franziska and Jana were both 10-years-old at the
time. Jana and her brother are taken to an orphanage;
Franziska and her brother are then raised by their grandparents.
One year later, both pairs of parents are released. The
Kriebisch’s freedom is paid for by West Germany. The
Simons continued to live under observation until the fall
of the Wall. But a normal family life is no longer possible.
The experiences leave their mark and both families fall
apart. Since then, no one has talked about what actually
happened.
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Twenty years later, upon the daughters’ insistence, the
parents and children come back together and talk about
what happened back then …
Genre Drama, Family, History Category Documentary Cinema
Year of Production 2005 Director Celia Rothmund
Screenplay Celia Rothmund Directors of Photography
Justyna Feicht, Yoliswa Gaertig Editors Fabienne Westhoff, Celia
Rothmund Music by Maciej Sledziecki Producer Celia
Rothmund Production Company Kunsthochschule fuer
Medien Koeln (KHM)/Cologne, in co-production with ZDF/Mainz,
3sat/Mainz With Franziska Kriebisch, Jana Birner Length 70 min,
1,800 m Format DigiBeta Blow-up 35 mm, color, 1:1.66
Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound
Technology Dolby SR Festival Screenings Hof 2005,
Ophuels Festival Saarbruecken 2006 (In Competition), Montreal
2006, Dokumentart Neubrandenburg 2006, Cologne Conference
2006, Sehsuechte Potsdam 2006 With backing from
Filmstiftung NRW, Thueringer Staatskanzlei German Distributor
Yeti Film/Berlin
Celia Rothmund was born in 1974 in Freiburg. After studies in
Media Arts/Film and Art History in Karlsruhe, she completed postgraduate
studies in Film & Television at the Academy of Media Arts
(KHM) Cologne. Her films include: Portraets (documentary
short, 2001), Eine Reise zurueck (documentary, 2002), and
Time Without Parents (Zeit ohne Eltern, 2005).
german films quarterly new german films
4 · 2006 53
Scene from “Time Without Parents” (photo © Kunsthochschule fuer Medien Koeln)