Berlin Wall film to be screened Nov. 4
Dozens of Boston College faculty and students contributed to 'Wrtining on the Wall: Remembering the Berlin Wall'
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The stories of leaders and ordinary citizens caught in the political power struggle that was the Berlin Wall are the subject of a new documentary to be screened at Boston College on Wednesday, Nov. 4.Shot on location in Berlin, “Writing on the Wall: Remembering the Berlin Wall” will be shown at 7 p.m. in Fulton Hall.
“The Berlin Wall holds both real and metaphorical meanings, its presence physically dividing East and West Berlin, while symbolically representing Communist oppression,” said Fine Arts Professor and department chairman John Michalczyk, who co-produced the film with O’Neill Library Circulation Assistant Ronald Marsh.
Among the voices and stories featured in the film are: Edwina Sandys, Winston Churchill’s granddaughter; Sergei Khrushchev, Nikita Khrushchev’s son; Thomas Flanagan, who was involved in the Berlin Airlift; Klaus Schutz, former mayor of West Berlin; Heidi Roseneck-O’Sullivan, an escapee from East Berlin; Baron Hermann von Richthofen, a former German Ambassador to Great Britain; Wolfgang Thierse, Vice-President of the German Parliament, and Alexandra Hildebrandt, director of the Museum at Checkpoint Charlie.
Many other members of the BC community also contributed to the film. The script was written by Michalczyk, Adjunct Associate Professor in the Arts and Sciences Honors Program Susan Michalczyk and German Studies Professor Michael Resler, who also served as associate producer/field producer. Music Assistant Professor Ralf Yusuf Gawlick was responsible for the musical composition. The musical performance was by the Hawthorne String Quartet, BC's quartet-in-residence.
Musical consulting was offered by Music Dept. Lecturer Barbara Gawlick and adjunct faculty member Mark Ludwig. Media Technology Services Audio Engineer Jonathan Sage worked on sound. Students Christopher Demaras and Thomas Galvin and alumni John Michalczyk III, Nathan Staudinger and William Keane were production assistants.
Funding for the documentary was provided by Boston College (Institute of Liberal Arts, Fine Arts/Film Studies, Calderwood Chair, Salmanowitz Program, Jesuit Institute); Laura and Lorenz Reibling Foundation; Thomas J. and Erma Jean Tracy Foundation; Rotary Club of Scituate, and The Ordelheide Foundation.
For more on the film, see www.bc.edu/offices/pubaf/news/Berlin_Wall_film_2009_1013.html