Goethe-Cinema
West (Westen) : Director: Christian Schwochow, 102 min., 2013
The summer of 1978: Nelly Senff, a postgraduate chemist, and her son Alexej relocate from East to West Berlin. A feigned marriage to a West German has made the move possible. After the death of Nelly's boyfriend and Alexej's father, she hopes to start a new life in the West. But first, the two end up in a refugee center, and the German bureaucracy, with its string of questionnaires, is not the only thing that racks their nerves. The Secret Service, and most of all the CIA, is very interested in the reasons for Nelly's exit from East Berlin – and even more so in her presumed dead boyfriend Wassilij, who may be operating as an agent on both fronts. To secure a future, the woman must first put the past behind her.
WESTEN won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2013 Montreal World Film Festival and Jördis Triebel received the “Best Actress” award for her portrayal of Nelly Senff. In January 2014, the film also won the viewers' award in the category "Dramatic Feature Premiere" at the 18th Berlin & Beyond Film Festival in San Francisco organized by the Goethe-Institut.
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