Concert film for the 100th birthday (in 2021) of resistance fighter Cato Bontjes van Beek.

Concert film / Germany 2010 / Director: Helge Burggrabe / 78 mins / Original version

Helge Burggrabe’s ‘CATO Concert Film’ pays tribute to Cato Bontjes van Beek, who was executed in Berlin-Plötzensee on 5 August 1943 at the age of just 22. She grew up in a family of artists in Fischerhude near Bremen and developed an astonishing interest in language, foreign cultures and Far Eastern philosophy from an early age. In Berlin, she designed and distributed leaflets for the ‘Rote Kapelle’ resistance group – and was arrested. Her letters written during her nearly ten-month imprisonment are among the most powerful testimonies from a political prisoner during the Nazi era. As such, Cato, with her active and intellectual resistance, remains a timeless role model of courage and determination in the fight against oppression and the lack of freedom.

Cato’s original texts are read by the well-known actress Julia Jentsch, who previously played Sophie Scholl in the award-winning film. The narrator is Lorenz Meyboden, with actor Christoph Jöde providing the voices for the male roles. The Cato texts, set to music by composer Helge Burggrabe, are performed by the renowned vocal ensemble SJAELLA, alongside music from the 1930s and works by J. S. Bach. The “CATO Concert Film” was filmed in Fischerhude Church to mark the 100th anniversary of Cato Bontjes van Beek’s birth.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usjk6oC9Rb0

Venue: STRAZEsaal
Doors open: from 7.30 pm
Start: 8 pm
Admission: free

The film will be shown in the original language without subtitles.

An event as part of the travelling exhibition “DAMALS HEUTE HIER – Women in Resistance against National Socialism” at St. Spiritus, in collaboration with OMAS GEGEN RECHTS MV and the Equal Opportunities Officer of the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald.

The STRAZE is wheelchair accessible. There is a lift and a wheelchair-accessible toilet. All toilets are all-gender toilets. Beanbags are available as alternative seating.