Die optische Industriegesellschaft oder darf's ein viertel Pfund mehr sein?

Berlin 1978. The film tells the story of three women who live together and build a jamming transmitter, which they use to highjack the soundtrack of TV news broadcasts. Why they do this is explained through a polemic montage of archival TV footage, which shows how men in leadership positions talk about women and what they do.

The initial idea was to make a children’s film about chocolate-covered marshmallows. How they are made, what they are made of, where they are made, who manufactures them under what conditions. The women who work on the assembly line are happy to tell us all about themselves. We are a welcome diversion. We noticed that the men have the better jobs and also earn more money. The women don’t entirely let themselves be taken in by the meritocracy. Talking, goofing off, and singing, they help each other to get through their 8-hour day. We like that. We drop the idea of a children’s film. In this film we tried out a documentary film form that deliberately does without interviews, relying instead largely on the effect of the images. From today's perspective the film alsooffers a glimpse into the history of migration in West Germany.