My DDR-T-Shirt credits
Although the My DDR T-Shirt project has been funded by Hawkinsian Productions, it simply could not have happened without some very helpful people. The people below are responsible for the film but even this list doesn't include all the people who've helped in various ways.
Sincere thanks to everyone who has offered help and support over the last three years - and a special thanks to Kirstie Adamson.
Behind the camera
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Ian Hawkins Yes, that's me and what can I say? It's my film - I organised it, conducted the interviews, logged the footage, edited it and now I'm trying to get the film watched wherever I can. |
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Phil Wynn Phil is a friend and was good enough to travel with me to Berlin at his own expense. Phil is the camerman behind about 80% of the finished film. But more than this, Phil's support and enthusiasm for the project has been total from the start. |
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Henning Krull I'd never met Henning before making the film, even so he was willing to let Phil and me stay in his Kreuzberg apartment for free. It is doubtful whether the trip to Berlin would've been affordable without Henning's kindness. Oh, and he also came with us one day to work as an interpreter. |
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Sven Kubala Sven's contribution is hard to over-estimate. He organised three of the nine interviewees below - Erika Kammer, Ursula Petzsch and Peter Weger. My DDR T-Shirt would be a very different film without Sven's help. He even helped out with some document translation. |
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Adam Richardson Adam is my nephew. He was about 12 when his mum took him to Berlin. I gave him my camera and asked him to film some cutaways. He clearly demonstrated an eye for composition and his tape of Berlin footage proved invaluable in the final cut. |
Interviewees
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Steffen Leide Steffen works at the Stasi Museum in Berlin. He was the very first interview but we arrived late. Thankfully, he still had time to talk to us. He was very friendly and full of information about the Stasi and the workings of the East German state. |
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Johnny Tarver Johnny is an Englishman who moved to East Germany in the 70s. He worked as a professor at an East German university but he also worked as an agent for the Stasi. Due to a certain amount of outside interest, I decided to make a dedicated Johnny Tarver page with his entire interview available as a series of podcasts/MP3s. |
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Stefan Eix Stefan was one of the first Berliners I talked to about making My DDR T-Shirt. As a West Berliner with considerable political knowledge, his support for the project was a significant boost to general confidence. He also managed to articulate more effectively than anyone the meaning of the whole t-shirt issue. |
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Erika Kammer After the war, Erika's hometown became part of East Germany. When her father returned to Germany after the war, he chose to settle in West Germany for fear of being sent to Siberia. As a result, Erika, her sister and mother escaped from the East through West Berlin. |
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Ursula Petzsch Ursula is an East Berliner. She is a socialist and is still politically active and involved with German left-wing political groups. Interviewing Ursula was a tense affair but she provided a valuable view of life in the East. |
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Peter Weger Peter is from Bonn (West Germany) but worked in East Germany in the late 70s. He was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment for trying to smuggle his East German girlfriend to West Germany. |
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Alexandra Hildebrandt Alexandra is from the Ukraine. After the collapse of the Soviet Union she was able to travel to Berlin where she met her husband, Rainer Hildebrandt. Rainer founded the Checkpoint Charlie Museum (Haus am Checkpoint Charlie) in 1962. After his death in 2004, Alexandra took over as director. |
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Dagmar Lane Dagmar is half Austrian and half German. She has lived in the UK for many years but visited her grand parents in East Germany many times. She also provided invaluable help with transcribing and translating some of the interviews. |
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Ian Sanders Ian is an amateur historian and photographer from the UK. He's the only non-German interviewee in the film but his visits to East Berlin before and after the fall of the Wall offer a great insight. His photographs can be viewed at his website. |
Translators
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Henning Krull As well as providing free accommodation in Berlin (credited above), Henning was also my interpreter for the two non-English speaking interviews. Interpreting is a great skill and Henning was superb - he also did a great job at putting the interviewees at ease and helping to get the very best out of the intervews. |
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Dagmar Lane After talking to me on camera about her experiences, Dagmar's interest in the My DDR T-Shirt project led to her kind offer of help. She did a great job in transcribing and translating the non-English interviews. |
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Doreen Ringham Doreen responded to a request for free translation help on Craigslist. She is a German living in Florida. It still amazes me that total strangers can be so willing to help other people. |
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Stefan Schlensag Stefan is an old friend of Ian's from university. Stefan helped translate documents prior to filming. |
Acknowledgements
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Kirstie Adamson Kirstie's help can't be summarised in a few words - she offers unfailing support to me and the project as a whole. In her capacity as a Graphic Designer she's also delivered some great projects - from My DDR posters to DVD design. |
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Mike Todd Mike is a friend and TV/documentary producer and director. He has offered lots of support and advice over the years but when discussing whether to self-fund or seek backing for My DDR T-Shirt, Mike's advice to self-fund was intrumental. Mike continues to help and support the project. |
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Graham Hawkins From Manchester, the cheapest route to Berlin is via Liverpool. In 2005, there wasn't good public transport between Manchester and Liverpool Airport and I couldn't afford long-term parking. When discussing this with Graham (my dad) his simple reply, "Well, I'll give you a lift to Liverpool if you like," made the whole thing possible. |
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Graham Goodall Graham owns (probably) the world's largest private collection of Trabants - much to the dismay of the local authority. He owns around 60 and when I turned up unannounced at his farm yard in the Peak District, he declined an interview but allowed me to film his cars. He even started one up and let me rocord that distinctive engine sound. |
