This is a short film (30min), part documentary part art-film, about the Berlin Wall back in 1988 when West Berlin was still an isolated fiefdom of the capitalist west, located 125 miles behind the Iron Curtain in communist eastern Europe.The film follows a young girl (Tilda Swinton of Narnia fame) and her thoughts as she circumnavigates West Berlin alongside the 96 mile long, iconic, symbol of the cold war.The film blends visual and audio art into a montage of simple scenes depicting the wall, its watch towers and life along the border strip just as it was a year before the wall fell and the cold war ended.
In 1988, Tilda Swinton toured round the Berlin Wall on a bicycle, accompanied by filmmaker Cynthia Beatt. Starting and ending at the Brandenburg Gate, Swinton leads us on a journey that is by turns idyllic, surreal, whimsical and depressing.