The American Sector will screen virtually from October 2-12, 2020. This film will be only available to viewers in the Northeast.

When people used to talk about ‘the wall,’ they meant one place: Die Mauer, or The Berlin Wall, meant to keep East Berliners in and Western influence out. Built in 1961, in the East it was touted as the Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart; in the West it was known as die Schandmauer, the wall of shame. A mere thirteen years after that wall fell, another was erected by Israelis in the West Bank who call it a security fence against terrorism; Palestinians call it apartheid. A minimalist look at divisive architecture and the physical manifestations of fear, viewers will find it fascinating that some governments still believe that walls can withstand the winds of change. THE AMERICAN SECTORis a quiet, carefully chartered journey to visit fragments of The Berlin Wall, now scattered across the United States. For some visitors, they are sites of pilgrimage and reckoning. For others, they are curious, colorful 3.6 meter high concrete slabs. As the nation ponders its own political symbols and statues, this film offers a series of poetic vignettes that explore how we make meaning of history, or don’t. Shot on Super 16 mm film. (JA)