Jochen Wisotzki

Sketches from a store cashier's everyday life.

The documentary reports on the goings-on at the only GDR racecourse in Berlin-Karlshorst. Pensioner Herta Rogau, who has been in charge of a betting counter for 15 years, tells how she came to this work and why she never dared to gamble herself. Her assessment of betting, gambling addicts, losers and winners enriches the footage shown of people at the betting counters, in the grandstand and of the exciting battles of the sulky drivers on the track.

The filmmaker tells the story of her own grandmother, who died in a home, full of longing for her granddaughter. Being forgotten by sons and daughters, by the young, the beautiful and the successful is the fate of the elderly in this era.

A portrait of three friends from the GDR. Dieter, a painter, spent ten years in prison on account of his "aversion to work". Alfred, promoted to the position of deputy executive editor, ends up in prison and receiving psychiatric help as a result of a catch-22 situation involving protests and alcoholism. Michael, who had studied foreign trade in Moscow, was kicked out of the Academy and now earns a living crafting lamps.

Documents important parts of the East German rock music scene of the late 1980s, from well-established bands like Silly, to underground rock bands like Feeling B. This road movie features young people using music to express their take on life, opposition to their parents' generation and opinions on the social and political climate in East Germany. It includes clips from concerts and interviews with fans and members of various bands, such as Feeling B's Christian Lorenz and Paul Landers, now members of Rammstein.