Transition

On December 31, 2023, filmmaker Thomas Heise sets up his camera at the Schönhauser Allee subway station in Berlin, close to his home. In carefully composed black-and-white shots, he captures passersby, the city, and the spirit of the times with striking precision. By keeping the camera still, he compels us to look. But before Heise can complete this promising film project, he dies in May 2024.

His longtime collaborators completed the film as a biographical testament and a tribute to their friend. Drawing on excerpts from Heise’s earlier work, family photographs, interviews, observations from old Stasi files, and other archival material, they bring all their knowledge, craft, and creativity to bear in an effort to do him justice.

With Heise's incisive cinematic language as their guide, they follow in his footsteps, searching for an answer to the question: what is an image? They also let Heise speak for himself, with a warning about the rise of extremist ideas. Having grown up under East Germany’s socialist regime in the 20th century, he recognized parallels with the language of his youth.

An extensive sensory guide (PDF) is available for this film. Read more about accessibility at screenings.