Usedom - A Big World Pictures release

Director: Heinz Brinkmann
Country: Germany
Year: 2017
Running time: 95 min
In German with English subtitles

To book this film
please contact us

For Berliners, the Baltic island of Usedom was once the most luxurious destination for excursions within striking distance of the city. This is where imperial Germany’s grand health resorts of Bansin, Heringsdorf and Ahlbeck were built. Heinz Brinkmann, who was born in Heringsdorf, traces the eventful history of his island. He talks about the magnificent villas on Europe’s longest beach promenade, about the expulsion of Jewish citizens by the Nazis and about Usedom being split into a German and a Polish half after the Second World War. During the GDR era, most of the spa architecture remained intact because of the lack of means to build something new. Since the fall of the Wall, however, investors have been trying to replace it with indistinguishable luxury residences.

Brinkmann also asks people about conservation and change. We hear from the mayor infuriated by the architectural eyesores of recent years, a farmer who bought an island in the Achterwasser lagoon for his organic cattle, a Polish hotel manageress and other bridge-builders between the two countries. Brinkmann also quotes from his own 1992 Usedom film and compares the plans of his former protagonists with today’s reality. A discursive tour through a fractured paradise.

NOW PLAYING IN U.S. THEATERS AND VIRTUAL CINEMAS!

WATCH THE TRAILER

PHOTOS

Click on thumbnails for hi-res versions or download all stills as one zip file

PLAYDATES

NOW PLAYING! Angelika Anywhere, New York, NY (Virtual Cinema)

NOW PLAYING! New Plaza Cinema, New York, NY (Virtual Cinema)

NOW PLAYING! Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville, NY (Virtual Cinema)

NOW PLAYING! Varsity Theatre, Davis, CA (Virtual Cinema)

NOW PLAYING! Downing Film Center, Newburgh, NY (Virtual Cinema)

8/20-26/21 Laemmle's Royal, West Los Angeles, CA

NOW PLAYING! Music Box, Chicago, IL (Virtual Cinema)

NOW PLAYING! Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL (Virtual Cinema)

NOW PLAYING! a/perture cinema, Winston-Salem, NC (Virtual Cinema)

8/27-9/23/21 SIE Film Center, Denver, CO (Virtual Cinema)

NOW PLAYING! Cleveland Cinematheque, Cleveland, OH (Virtual Cinema)

8/27-9/30/21 Kiggins Theatre, Vancouver, WA (Virtual Cinema)

NOW PLAYING! Tivoli at the Nelson-Atkins, Kansas City, MO (Virtual Cinema)

NOW PLAYING! Row House Cinema, Pittsburgh, PA (Virtual Cinema)

NOW PLAYING! Smith Rafael Film Center, San Rafael, CA (Virtual Cinema)

NOW PLAYING! Montclair Film, Montclair, NJ (Virtual Cinema)

Opens 10/1/21 Bryn Mawr Film Institute, Bryn Mawr, PA (Virtual Cinema)

REVIEWS

"Shaping personal and geographical history into sun-drenched dollops, the director Heinz Brinkmann fashions a charmingly quirky guide to his island home…[According] to one enthusiastic real estate developer. “Usedom is sexy,”... “Usedom is cool.” I wouldn’t dream of disagreeing.” - Jeanette Catsoulis, New York Times

"An enlightening exposé...A place that we could, should and would want to visit." - John Higgins, Film and TV Now

"Brinkmann paints a portrait of a beguiling ghost...You'll have the melancholy sensation that you're watching something that is disappearing even as you see it." - Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film

"An absorbing look at a Baltic Sea island...A reflective, calming meditation." - Peter Martin, Screen Anarchy

AVAILABLE FROM BIG WORLD PICTURES

A BIG WORLD PICTURES RELEASE