35 Jahre KHM: Ein Filmabend mit Jeanine Meerapfel

In the organizer's words:

The German-Argentine director was one of the first professors at the KHM and taught feature and documentary film directing in the film/television department from 1990 to 2006. On the occasion of her visit to the KHM, she will be showing one of her first award-winning feature films, which she shot in Argentina and Berlin in 1987: "La Amiga". To this day, the themes of migration, exile, human dignity and freedom of expression are at the heart of her films.
Wednesday, November 5, 2025, 7 pm, Aula of the KHM, Filzengraben 2, 50676 Cologne
Moderation: Kathrin Röggla, Professor of Literary Writing, and Solveig Klaßen, Vice Rector of the KHM

On the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the Academy of Media Arts (KHM), director and long-time KHM professor Jeanine Meerapfel will come to Cologne to present "La Amiga", one of her award-winning feature films, which she shot in Argentina and Berlin in 1987 and for which she received the Federal Film Prize in 1989. In 1990, Jeanine Meerapfel was appointed as the first female professor at the newly founded Academy of Media Arts Cologne, where she taught fiction and documentary film directing until 2006. She was spokesperson for the founding committee of the KHM and subsequently spokesperson for the Film and Television department at the KHM for many years. She was instrumental in the development of the film curriculum and initiated the KHM's exchange program with the Cuban film school EICTV.

After leaving the KHM in 2008, Jeanine Meerapfel continued to make numerous films. From 2015 to 2024, she was President of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. In 2020, Jeanine Meerapfel was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class for her success as a filmmaker and author as well as her commitment to human rights, freedom of expression and equal cultural diversity. In 2021, the Federal Association of Directors (BVR) appointed her Honorary President.

"La Amiga", feature film by Jeanine Meerapfel, Argentina/BRD, 1988, 108 min.
Original Spanish version with German subtitles
This is the story of a close and contradictory friendship between two women against the backdrop of the military dictatorship in Argentina. Only Raquel has fulfilled her childhood vow to become an actress. Maria marries an electrician and becomes the mother of three children. When the military took power in 1976, Maria's eldest son Carlos, like countless others, was abducted. In desperation, Maria turns to her friend, who has since become a celebrity, who sets off with her in search of her son until she herself is threatened. Raquel leaves the country and goes to Berlin, the city her parents were forced to leave after Hitler's rise to power. Meanwhile, Maria joins the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a group of Argentinian women, all searching for their abducted relatives. When the friends meet again, both have changed dramatically. Raquel returns to Buenos Aires after the military dictatorship in 1983. She has become anxious, tries to adapt and forget. She wants her friend to stop demanding that she admit that Carlos is dead. But Maria insists: her son is not dead, he has "disappeared". Nothing should be forgotten, so that nothing repeats itself.