Coming Out

(1989, East Germany) 
Director: Carow, Heiner 
Starring: Matthias Freihof ; Dirk Kummer ; Michael Gwisdek 

The first significant gay movie from East Germany opened on a historic night last fall. Given its controversial subject and difficult production history, Coming Out was expected to excite its first night crowd in East Berlin; nevertheless, director Heiner Carow hadn't anticipated what happened next. The applause and party atmosphere continued out on the streets after the screening, where people were already shouting and celebrating. Coming Out's premiere had coincided with the night the Berlin Wall came down. Even without this profound political backdrop, Carow's tale of socialist sexuality would seem extraordinary. Produced by the state studio DEFA (which kept a discreet distance from the project), and cloaked by the inevitable which-actor's-queer? curiosity, Coming Out clearly had a struggle just to see it to the screen.

It's a classic story--a sort of Marxist, modern-day Maurice. Schoolteacher Philipp finds himself distracted from his colorless romance with colleague Tanja by the attention of a teen he meets in a concert ticket line. Haunted by memories of his schooldays' desire for gay pal Jakob--and his parents' plea to stay on the straight and narrow--Philipp becomes torn between his two lovers, and risks losing both. Philipp's predicament propels him into the city's gay scene.

Heiner Carow shot Coming Out largely at real East Berlin bars and back alleys; outside of the Super-8 segments in Wieland Speck's Westler, this is a first and last look at gay locations and gay life before the Wall fell. Even separated from its historic circumstances, educational ambition, and fascinating cultural tourism, Coming Out stands as a moving and passionate story, honestly told. 

Source : Obtained from PlanetOut.Com