NEBENAN: MICHA

Michael Weissbach, born in West Berlin in 1950, grew up in a working-class environment shaped by the aftermath of the Second World War and the tensions of a divided city. In a family where alcohol and emotional distance dominated daily life, he sought alternative paths from an early age – initially through drugs and alcohol, and later through the freedom afforded by travel and music. With Berlin humour and great self-irony, Micha looks back on his life. Following a liver transplant, he begins to view his life anew. His body, his background and his struggles are no longer flaws to him, but part of a story that has made him sensitive to social exclusion and societal contradictions. The great love that never came to be stands as a symbol of unfulfilled hopes.

The film focuses entirely on Michael Weissbach: in his flat, in his own words, carried by his humour and the rhythm of his memories, it manages entirely without background music. Themes such as family, friendship, the body, addiction, travel, music, loss and love weave together to form a quiet portrait – and a subtle political commentary on life in West Berlin and on a generation that has often been overlooked.

Petra Lottje photos © Petra Lottje