Egbert Lipowski

I Laugh to Keep from Crying

This portrait shows Black cartoonist Oliver Harrington from New York, who fled to the GDR. For his political drawings, he drew on worldly anecdotes and his love of storytelling. Director Hans Hattop later taught videography at the University of Film and Television.

Unsere bösen Kinder

A film about five street children; children who have had to grow up too soon. The footage was shot at Christmas 1992, in Berlin. Claudia, 13, wants to show her mother "that kids can do what they want". 13-year-old Danny thinks Germany’s lousy, having lived on the streets for two years. His mother doesn’t try to contact him any more. Jonas, 13, is convinced that a bright future lies ahead of him. He shifts between his parents’ house and the streets, but feels most at home in a street riot. 13-year-old Daniela doesn’t want to leave home, despite suffering at the violent hands of her father. We meet her in a women’s refuge centre. David, 13, shows the director, his father, first-hand what street children go through and the pain they inflict upon their parents.