Spotlight on Germany ©Ceparedonda Pixabay Take a closer look at different aspects of life in Germany. Photo (detail): © Adobe City and country Home is where your WiFi is You read and hear in the media at regular intervals that people are either moving to the country or moving away from it. What is really going on? Is it an urban or a rural exodus? Where are Germans going? Foto (Detail): Arne Dedert © picture alliance/dpa/POOL Frankfurt Book Fair 2020 Anne Weber Awarded German Book Prize 2020 „Annette, ein Heldinnenepos“ by Anne Weber has won the German Book Prize for novel of the year at the start of the Frankfurt Book Fair. Photo (detail): © picture-alliance/dpa/Wolfgang Kumm 30 years of a united Germany “There simply was no alternative” Thirty years after German reunification, are there still differences between East and West? In an interview, former GDR civil-rights activist Freya Klier talks about the time just after the Berlin Wall fell, the new freedoms it brought and about whether Germans are now “one people”. Photo (detail): © DEFA-Stiftung DEFA Film Heritage “Did they really allow things like that?” The films of the GDR’s state film production company, DEFA, always bore the stigma of being permeated by propaganda. That, however, is only part of the truth. When it comes to feature and animation films, fairy tales and documentaries there is a valuable artistic film legacy to be found. The DEFA Foundation wants to make them more easily available digitally. Photo detail: © picture alliance/Christoph Hardt/Geisler-Fotopress Streaming services On demand From Netflix and Apple TV to RTL Now, Germans are streaming more and more series and films. Public broadcasters are jumping on the bandwagon and making their own series looking to conquer the international market. Photo (detail): © picture alliance/Westend61/Uwe Umstätter Digitalisation Digitally Sidelined Signing petitions, booking a visit to the local swimming pool, home schooling – all kinds of everyday things work digitally today. Those who have no access to the internet or who have only limited digital skills could be marginalized in our society. Photo (detail): © Sirplus Rescuing food Can this still be eaten or does it have to go? Almost 13 million tons of food goes to waste in Germany every year. The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has ambitious plans halve domestic food waste by 2030, a problem private initiatives have already begun addressing. Photo (detail): © picture alliance/Norbert Probst/imageBROKER Sustainable Towns Digital villages, green towns Germany’s most sustainable towns and cities rely on the participation of their residents. Quite a lot can be achieved even with comparatively few financial resources. Photo (detail): © picture alliance/Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo/Sebastian Gabriel Andrea Lissoni “A true home of the arts” From London’s Tate Modern to Bavaria’s capital: curator Andrea Lissoni is moving to Munich to head up the Haus der Kunst in Munich in April 2020. © Richard Hübner/ ZDF / funk Young Adult Series “Druck” “A little flippant and imperfect” “Druck” (Pressure) is a young adult television series that features authentic actors and dialogue. Most of the actors are amateurs, and the transgender character is played by a trans man. The show has been a run-away success. Photo (detail): © privat / Ars Edition Britta Teckentrup Atmospheric Objectivity “Nature and emotions” are easy for her, she says. Children’s book illustrator Britta Teckentrup likes to focus her drawings on the profound and relies on a balance of objectivity and empathy. Photo (detail): © Adobe Climate change Carbon compensation – a feel-good solution? Carbon offset schemes promise to compensate for the emissions caused by private individuals – as air travellers, for instance – with donations to climate projects. But are they not just a way of salving guilty consciences? Top
