Directed by Lutz Pehnert
Bettina Wegner's life is also the story of a century; it is in her bones, her soul, her thoughts - and in her songs. So often reduced to just one of her many songs, “Sind so kleine Hände” (“Children”) and her collaboration with Joan Baez, here in Lutz Pehnert’s portrait she is given the space she deserves. In her husky voice, she describes – even humorously – her inner turmoil and her determination not to give up her home in the GDR, even when she was no longer wanted there. Her song “Über Gebote” (“About Rules”) serves Pehnert as a narrative thread, while he uses archive material from East and West Germany, audio recordings from her trial as well as Wegner’s own words and music to guide us through her life. In this way, the film gives a new audience the chance to discover singer-songwriter Bettina Wegner – who really only ever wanted to sing love songs.
Born in Berlin, Germany in 1961, Lutz Pehnert has worked as a freelance writer and television director since 1995. His works often deals with culture, entertainment and life in the GDR, including portraits of prominent personalities from East Germany. His film Brand, about a group of alcoholic workers in a Brandenburg steel mill, was presented in the 1997 Berlinale Forum. His multipart documentary DDR Ahoi!, about the history of East German seafaring, won a Grimme Award in 2011, and his film Partisan screened in the Berlinale’s Panorama in 2018. His most recent feature, Bettina, had its world premiere at the Berlinale in 2022, where it received a Fipresci Prize.
