Rettet das Feuer

Retrospective, DE 2019, 82 min., dt. OV + engl. UT

By: Jasco Viefhues

Berlin, 1993: The HIV/AIDS pandemic reached its peak that no one was prepared for. Entire peer groups and circles of friends disappear, and along with the people, their stories often get lost, as if they had never existed. Faced with the death of friends and his own mortality, photographer and artist Jürgen Baldiga becomes a chronicler of his time, creating a visibility that is vital for survival. “I take a photo. I photograph the world. I exist.” A quarter of a century after Baldiga’s death, director Jasco Viefhues met with friends and contemporaries of the artist and combines these conversations with a wealth of photographs and lots of hitherto unseen archive material. In this way, the director deliberately picks up Baldiga’s impulse to remember and give visibility to gay life realities. “Rettet das Feuer” is not only the portrait of an opinionated artist, it also narrates an important part of West Berlin’s history.

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