Events

Germany, 2007, DVD, 105 min., Director: Igor Heitzmann

Shortly after the Wall came down, Austrian conductor Otmar Suitner ended his long-standing career at the State Opera in East Berlin as Parkinson’s syndrome overtook the world-famous conductor’s control. But the fall of the Wall brought something new: changes to his family life. For decades Suitner had had two private lives, one with his wife in East Berlin, the other one with his mistress and their son, Igor, in the west of the divided city.

Igor Heitzmann, son of Otmar Suitner, graduated from the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin with A Father’s Music as his final assignment. The music ties together Heitzmann’s fragmented memories; interviews, archive footage, and original scenes reconstruct the family story.