Rosa von Praunheim: City of Lost Souls + Intro

Rosa von Praunheim’s flamboyant musical about a troupe of American performers in search of stardom, love, and freedom in 1980s West Berlin. A glittering time capsule and a manifesto of queer self-determination. 

The screening will be introduced by Jaye Hudson.

Jaye Hudson is a multidisciplinary researcher, and film programmer whose practice explores archives, oral history, and transfeminine cultural memory. Working across film, publishing, performance, and community heritage projects, her work focuses on recovering overlooked histories and developing new approaches to engaging with queer and trans narratives. Her screening series “TGirlsonFilm” has screened across the UK, L.A and Helsinki, featuring in Little White Lies, The Face and Autostraddle. She currently sits on the programming team for BFI Flare. 

About the Film

West Berlin in the 1980s: A flamboyant troupe of American musicians, acrobats, singers, and dancers has found not only a home but also employment at the boarding house run by Angie Stardust and her diner, the Hamburger Queen. Caught between dreams of stardom, romantic adventures, and the struggle to survive, they pursue their ambitions and sexual desires without compromise. “I sleep with everyone. I’m neither gay, nor straight, nor bi- or trisexual. I’m simply sexual,” Tron confidently declares. Angie is a trans woman who loves women. Tara describes herself as “woman above, man below”and advocates what she calls a “third gender,” persuading a cis man to try something new. The boarding-house residents are not always gentle with one another. They argue, gossip, and hurt each other, but look out for one another when it matters. They miss America, yet love Berlin, even though life there is shaped by precarious circumstances, bureaucratic hurdles, lingering authoritarian attitudes, and open xenophobia.
  Von Praunheim presents all this as a glittering, anarchic musical. Extravagant musical numbers and documentary-style moments come together in a loosely episodic narrative. The performers, among them well-known figures such as the African American singer and dancer Angie Stardust, rock singer Jayne (formerly Wayne) County, and Cuban-American actor Joaquín La Habana, play versions of themselves and recount often painful experiences. Yet they never appear merely as victims. They survive, assert themselves, and stick together.

With its exuberant celebration of non-heteronormative lives and its remarkably affirmative portrayal of trans characters, who are not reduced to tragedy or suffering, the film was ahead of its time. Both a vibrant portrait of a queer chosen family and a powerful statement of visibility and self-empowerment, it remains as radical, life-affirming, and exhilarating today as it was upon its release.

FRG 1983, colour, DCP (original format: 16mm), 94 min., with English subtitles.
Screenplay, direction and editing: Rosa von Praunheim, Cinematography: Stephan Köster, Music: Holger Münzer, Songs: Alexander Kraut, Jayne County, Angie Stardust, Producer: Johannes Surek, Production: Rosa von Praunheim Filmproduktion, HR, SFB. With Jayne County, Angie Stardust, Judith Flex, Gary Miller, Joaquín La Habana, Tara O’Hara, Tron von Hollywood, Manfred Finger, Wolfgang Schumacher, Lorraine Muthke, Lotti Huber.