In a Land That No Longer Exists (2022)

For many of its audience, life in the GDR will not have been a personal experience. For its writer and director, it is all based on personal memory, and that shows. We look back to East German history, especially the story of its very modern fashion scene with magazines like Sibylle, and forward to what freedom means in such a society and for one personally.From the start we can feel with the characters, whether its Suzie, the girl turning model after a photographer called Coyote takes a photo of her, or Rudi, the flamboyant designer, but also the unheroic father or the boss of the fashion magazine, both of whom have arranged themselves with what it takes to live in a totalitarian state. And as cliché-ridden as that sounds, the characters are very real and believable. The journey Suzie ges on is troublesome and seems exaggerated, but shows what life in East Germany also was, without being a film focussing too much on history. Its main topic, freedom in a society that does not allow for freedom, is shown very convincingly and lets the viewer understand the characters and root for them, although the fashion scene is vastly different from what most people will have as a workplace.Great actors (Tambea as Rudi is wonderful) plus creativity in direction and montage make this a much better film than the (incorrect) summary on imdb suggests.Saw the film at a presentation with the director and the stylist who was the Rudi character and was moved by how accurately the film shows both their experiences with oppression and freedom within such a state. Decidedly personal (and unpolitical), it is an extremely political film, but also very moving on a personal level.