2009-10-13

RAW - United we stay (Louise Culot, 2009, 32')

After the reunification of Germany, 20 years ago, East Berlin was literally left on his own.

The former GDR infrastructures were abandoned, Berlin was broke, and private investors were not interested in these unstable eastern districts. In this context, the local population took the matters in its own hands and started to self-organize. The many empty houses, urban wastelands and unused fabrics were adapted again, according to the interests of the inhabitants.


This is how Friedrichshain, today a well-known district in East Berlin, developped the last 15 years. Architects and sociologists call this process a « grassroots-led urban development », or a « participative urban planning ».


This is also in this context that the association R.A.W. Tempel was born, 10 years ago, on a big property abandoned by the former Reichsbahn. At the time, some people of the neighbourhood were wondering what they could make out of this forgotten property and the old buildings standing on it. They imagined a kind of little city in the city and with the support of the local politicians, provided people with a place to initiate their own project under a common roof, where each one could teach one. Today, the RAW Tempel is hosting a circus for kids, as well as several hundreds of people working on many different projects, from instruments building to gardening, cooking, and fixing bicycles.


In 2007, the Deutsche Bahn sold the RAW property to a private company. The new owners want the RAW Tempel out to build profitable infrastructures on their property. Nevertheless, locals are not so keen to leave the place.


Who has the right to the city ?

RAW - Wir sind gekommen um zu bleiben


Es geht um Stadtentwicklung von unten sowie um Stadtumstrukturierung durch große Immobilienprojekte. Wer hat das Recht, den Entwicklungsprozess einer Stadt zu beeinflussen? Die Doku erzählt vom Kampf des RAW-tempel e.V., auf dem ehemaligen Gelände des Reichsbahnausbesserungswerkes "Franz Stenzer" in Berlin- Friedrichshain zu bleiben, nachdem der Verein dort 10 Jahre lang seine Räume geschaffen hat und es mit Leben erfüllt hat.

Die Filmemacherin Louise Culot zeigt mit ihrem Dokumentarfilm "RAW -Wir sind gekommen um zu bleiben" den Kampf um Freiräume und Selbstbestimmung.
Die Brisanz und Aktualität dieses Themas wird bereits in der Vorführungsgeschichte des Films deutlich: Aufgrund massiver Interventionen der Grundstückseigentümer, kann der Film nicht - wie geplant - im RAW-Tempel gezeigt werden.