ECHO Klassik Winner, Best Music Documentary - Featuring artists and contemporary witnesses like Helmut Schmidt, Peter Schreier, Kurt Masur, Theo Adam, Otmar Suitner, Jochen Kowalski, Christine Mielitz, Siegfried Matthus, Walter Felsenstein and many more. - Like all other areas of art, classical music it was made instrumental for ideological purposes, and it's protagonists - provided they displayed the necessary talent and were not regarded with suspicion by the state security service - often enjoyed extraordinary privileges. This combination of art and dictatorship created an environment in which music-making of world quality was able to flourish. Through case studies of individuals who lived under the system, the documentary explores the fates of both the privileged and the non-privileged, and delivers insight into the infl uence of the political system on artistic life. The fi lm includes interviews with contemporary witnesses both from GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). "In my opinion, comrades, we really should end the monotony of this Yeah, Yeah, Yeah or whatever they call it" (SED General Secretary Walter Ulbricht about pop music)
