THE AMERICAN SECTOR

Documentary, 68 mins

Director: Courtney Stephens, Pacho Velez

Grasshopper Films

 

Credit: Consulting Editor

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All over the USA, dozens of concrete stelae are to be found. Some are cherished and revered while others are left to fend for themselves. They are the silent witnesses of a bizarre joke of history, for these objects are in fact sections of the Berlin Wall that have been collected by American institutions and individuals over the past 30 years. At a time when there is much debate about notions of public commemoration, Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez’s assiduous piece of urban anthropology surveys a past world order. Like totem poles, they appear to assert themselves and evoke history in the most unlikely of environments. At the same time, they exhort us to ponder the present.

- Berlinale Program

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Premiere, Berlin International Film Festival 2020