The FleaPit

Deutsh Docs
Screening of The Sky and Beyond, 90 mins, Germany 2008

A new monthly screening of German Documentaries.

Tickets at the bar, min spend £3 per person

8pm (please arrive by 7.30pm as tickets are given out on a first come first served basis).

The Sky and Beyond directed by Alexandra Pohlmeier, reflects on the remarkable life of 92-year-old sculptor Dorothea Buck who cured herself from schizophrenia.

Born in 1917 she was overcome by a severe mental crisis at the age of nineteen. During the Third Reich, with the diagnosis of schizophrenia, she was declassified as a minor human being. According to the Nazi race policies she was forcibly sterilized in 1936. A few years later she barely escaped “euthanasia”.

Contrary to all prognoses – incurable mental illness – Dorothea Buck tried to understand what drove her into psychosis and developed her own theory of her illness. That way she found the key to her own sanity. Her personal growth is strongly connected to her development becoming an expressive and price-winning sculptor.

In 2008 she was rewarded by the Federal Republic of Germany for her lifetime’s achievement.

Between 2001 and 2008, director Alexandra Pohlmeier was able to capture Dorothea Buck’s breath-taking story during regular visits to her home and studio in Hamburg and by traveling with her. Buck’s younger sister provides an outside view, reflecting on the dismay and helplessness most families experience when mental illness strikes in their midst. By accentuating the narrative Dorothea Buck’s sculptures unfold an impressive body of work.

The Sky and Beyond is a film about the life and work of a courageous woman – an encouraging film.