From Marks & Spencer to Marx and Engels (1988)

Amber Films

A documentary about the East German shipbuilding and fishing town of Rostock, exploring questions about its daily life raised in North Shields, during Amber’s 5 year residency.

It grew out of a collaboration with DEFA, the East German documentary studio, which made From Marx & Engels to Marks & Spencer on Tyneside. On location, Amber would mysteriously find shops bursting with produce, a tendency it counteracted by mysteriously time-consuming set-ups that allowed the shelves to empty. The Berlin Wall came down two years after the film was made and 25 years later Amber returned to Rostock, finding the participants in the original film, exploring their reflections on what it had captured and their experiences of political, economic and cultural change. From Us to Me was released in 2016.

Amber Films, 57 mins, 1988

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