The Latest at Goethe

Sexuality is a delicate issue. It is especially difficult to talk about among people of different cultures. Twenty-six young people from the United Kingdom, Germany and the Middle East dared to do it anyway and even made short films about the subject.


The lights go down in the projection room of the Schlesische27 youth centre in Berlin-Kreuzberg, and the film begins. It is about a couple spending the day together: going for a walk, riding bikes together, dancing, kissing on a park bench. One couple, one day, one relationship evolving – quite a common story. But, wait a minute; this couple is not at all common: it is a man and a mannequin.

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The film The Man and the Mannequin is over and the film team enters the stage. It is made up of young people from the Palestinian Territories, from Lebanon and from Germany. They are five participants in a film workshop developed together by the Goethe-Institut Lebanon and the Bildungsteam Berlin-Brandenburg.

They chose the mannequin as a character because it is merely the replica of a person, they explain. She is a plastic being, not a man, not a woman. She is more an “it.” In the film they wished to portray how the relationship between the man and the mannequin develops. In the beginning, he sees her as a thing and doesn’t really know what to do with her. Over the course of the day, the man and mannequin experience situations, though, that bring them closer together. The film is about relationships or about the search for relationships, regardless of one’s gender.

The film was one of three short films on gender and sexuality that were created as part of the project Confessions. The project was conceived by the Goethe-Institut Lebanon, which brought together 26 young people between the ages of 18 and 25 from Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, the United Kingdom and Germany for a dialogue about sexuality and gender roles. In April they met in Kreuzberg to exchange views, discuss gender aspects from various cultural perspectives and to call their own images of one another to question. This led to ideas that were implemented in the short films.

The Dream of Cycling

The film The Bicycle tells a very different story. A young Arabic girl wants to ride a bike, but can’t because it is forbidden. The girl is sad and doesn’t understand, is angry and tries to persuade the grownups, but nothing helps. Finally, she steals the key to her big brother’s bicycle lock, climbs onto the bike and rides off grinning from ear to ear.

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The audience praises the camera work, the editing and the impressive young actors. But, what was the film about actually? There is a little perplexity in the auditorium. No one knows why the girl is forbidden to ride a bicycle.

This is when it becomes clear how important projects are that focus on gender and sexuality and how difficult it can sometimes become. For some knowledge cannot necessarily be assumed. It is often simply forbidden for Muslim girls raised conservatively to ride a bicycle because it could injure their hymen. An intact hymen is considered proof of virginity, without which the girl cannot be married.

“I found the dialogue between us very fascinating,” says Sarah, who collaborated on the film The Man and the Mannequin. “We had only ten days to get to know one another and prepare the subject of gender and sexuality. In this short time, we learned a lot about one another and treated each other very openly. So, when it was time to start working on the short films, we already had ideas.” Sarah herself has already spent one year in Turkey and one year in the United States. She found out about Confessions from a girlfriend and was immediately taken by the idea. The project left behind a lasting impression. Sarah, who has nearly finished her studies in social sciences, is now considering beginning film studies.

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