Helga Reidemeister was born in Halle (Saale) in 1940. After her schooling in Cologne, she studied painting at the College of Arts in Berlin, and worked as a restorer after her graduation in 1965.
The student movement led to a revision in her life: Reidemeister became a social worker in the Berlin satellite town "Maerkisches Viertel". It was the women living there who inspired her to make films: in 1973 she began her studies at the German Academy of Film and Television (dffb) in Berlin and then realized her first projects (including Der gekaufte Traum, 1974-1977) together with residents of the "Maerkisches Viertel".She gained an international reputation as a director with her graduation film Is This Fate? (Von wegen Schicksal, 1979), winning various prizes – including the German Film Award – for this portrait of a mother who rebels against her role in society. The film was the subject of considerable debate and became an important impulse for the development of documentary cinema in Germany.
Whether presenting the everyday life of a model in Eyes Fixed on the Money (Mit starrem Blick aufs Geld, 1983), questioning the continuing existence of political utopias in Walking Tall: Rudi Dutschke - Trails (Aufrecht Gehen Rudi Dutschke - Spuren, 1988), investigating in Rodina Means Home (Rodina heisst Heimat, 1992) the perspectives for the future lives of Soviet soldiers withdrawing from Germany, or raising the question of relative guilt and atonement in God's Cell – A Women's Prison (Gotteszell - Ein Frauengefaengnis, which premiered in the Berlinale Forum in 2001).
Reidemeister's award-winning films reveal the balance of power within society that determines the lives of individuals, especially those of women.With Texas - Kabul (2004) Reidemeister portrays women from Afghanistan, India, Serbia and the USA who demonstrate their opposition to nationalism and war.
In her latest film War and Love in Kabul (Mein Herz sieht die Welt schwarz – Eine Liebe in Kabul, 2009) Hossein's and Shaima's self-determined love for each other breaks traditional family taboos. A story about honor, disgrace, fear, and hope for change in a war-ravaged country. A powerful parable about Afghan society.
Icarus Films
