The End of Silence

It's about the realisation of a feature length documentary dealing with the Gay Trials of Frankfurt 1950-51. The film will remind Germany of the gay men who had to face injustice when the country was still recovering from the Second World War and passing their stories to people all over the world so that they can learn from the past.

One of the project's goals is to prevent the Gay Trials of Frankfurt from fading into obscurity. As I am writing this very few people are aware of those events. Knowing our history gives us the possibility to learn from past mistakes so that they can't happen again. But first you have to record them and make them available to the mass. Especially young people should watch the documentary regardless of whether they identify themselves as straight or gay.

So far no filmmaker has ever attempted to make a documentary about the Gay Trials of Frankfurt. Yet the Gay Trials of Frankfurt led to a revival of Paragraph 175, a law which the Nazis used to persecute and to punish homosexual men during the Third Reich. This documentary will be a monument to the victims and a warning to future generations.

If the project is successfully funded the money will go to the production of the documentary. High-end equipment will be rented. A small film team will shoot interviews while re-enactments will be produced by a bigger one. For instance, there will be a scene showing a police raid at a gay bar. We aim for a documentary that will appeal to an international audience.

Furthermore, the money will be spent on post-production, editing, color correction, music and the purchase of archive photography and film footage.

Below you can see an overview of how we plan to spent the money:

1) Pre-Production: Gathering the film crews, obtaining approvals of shooting / renting locations and equipment

2) Production: Shooting interviews in Frankfurt at the Main, Berlin (Gay Museum), Hamburg and Cologne with a small film crew (director, director of photography and sound recordist) and re-enactments with a bigger film crew (director, director of photograhy, camera operator, make-up artist, costume designer, gaffer) and actors

3) Post-production: Editing, color correction, music, animations, archive photography and film footage