Film Series for Made in Germany?—Activist Legacies

This event requires registration; see further details below.

Acts of protests—both individual and collective—were a fundamental part of the public sphere in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG/West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR/East Germany). The public demonstrations immediately leading up to and following the fall of the Berlin Wall, for example, are among the most well-known and documented in German history. The spectacle of these events often overshadows more acute demonstrative actions and the individuals behind them.

Focusing on specific activists, the three films being shown reflect on their individual forms of activism and their legacies within a larger effort to combat racism, violence, and social inequality.

Maria Binder’s Hope in My Heart: The May Ayim Story (1997; original German title: May Ayim: Hoffnung im Herz) showcases the life of May Ayim, the poet, scholar, and activist whose writing propelled the Afro-German movement in the 1980s. In addition to poetry performances by Ayim, the film includes interviews that detail her efforts to combat anti-Black racism in Germany through her writing.

In Semra Ertan, Cana Bilir-Meier focuses on the lives of Turkish Germans through a meditation on her aunt’s poetry and activism. Combining archival text, images, and footage with recitations of Ertan’s poetry, the film outlines the circumstances that led to Ertan’s final demonstration.

In November, Hito Steyerl looks back on the life and death of Andrea Wolf, her best friend who joined the Kurdistan Workers Party in the 1990s to aid in their fight against the Turkish government for Kurdish sovereignty. Framed by the Turkish-Kurdish conflict and Germany’s involvement, the film scrutinizes how women become symbols of conflicting ideologies in the media and popular imagination.

Viewers may find the content of these films disturbing.

About the films:
Hope in My Heart: The May Ayim Story, 1997 (Maria Binder; German with English subtitles; 28 min.)
Semra Ertan, 2013 (Cana Bilir-Meier; German with English subtitles; 7 min.)
November, 2004 (Hito Steyerl; German with English subtitles; 25 min.)

This film series is curated by Peter Murphy, the Stefan Engelhorn Curatorial Fellow in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and is offered in conjunction with the special exhibition Made in Germany? Art and Identity in a Global Nation (September 13, 2024–January 5, 2025).

Free admission, but seating is limited and registration is required. You can register by clicking on the event on this form, beginning Wednesday, September 25, after 10am.

The event will take place in Menschel Hall, Lower Level. Doors will open at 1:30pm.

The Harvard Art Museums offer free admission every day, Tuesday through Sunday. Please see the museum visit page to learn about our general policies for visiting the museums.

Support for this program is provided by the Richard L. Menschel Endowment Fund.

Made in Germany? Art and Identity in a Global Nation is made possible by the Daimler Curatorship of the Busch-Reisinger Museum Fund, the Carola B. Terwilliger Bequest, German Friends of the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and the Care of the Busch-Reisinger Museum Collection Endowment. Additional support was provided by the Goethe-Institut Boston and the Dedalus Foundation. Related programming is supported by the Richard L. Menschel Endowment Fund and the M. Victor Leventritt Lecture Series Endowment Fund. Modern and contemporary art programs at the Harvard Art Museums are made possible in part by generous support from the Emily Rauh Pulitzer and Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., Fund for Modern and Contemporary Art.

The Harvard Art Museums are committed to accessibility for all visitors. For anyone requiring accessibility accommodations for our programs, please contact us at am_register@harvard.edu at least 48 hours in advance.