Sie nannten ihn Amigo

They Called Him Amigo

Panorama 2019

Germany, 1939. A 13-year-old boy from Berlin, Rainer Meister, known as Amigo, finds a man in the junk room of the cellar in the back courtyard. This is Pepp, a political prisoner who has fled a concentration camp. Born into a family of working-class communists, Amigo is well aware of the danger involved in helping Pepp. Nevertheless, help he does; he also makes his two confidants, his younger brother and friend, swear to remain silent. But the friend confides in his father. The latter, a self-satisfied, cowardly Nazi sympathiser, eventually becomes a denunciator.
Sie nannten ihn Amigo (They Called Him Amigo) is being screened on the occasion of the presentation of the 2019 Heiner Carow Prize. Since 2013, this award, sponsored by the DEFA Foundation, has been bestowed on a German documentary, feature or essay film screening in the Panorama section. This year’s jury members are Henrika Kull (filmmaker and producer), Maren Liese (from the legal department of the DEFA Foundation) and Pierre Sanoussi-Bliss (actor and director).
This film is shown with German subtitles for the hearing-impaired and with German audio description. German sign language interpretation and German audio description is provided for the ceremony. No English subtitles are provided for this screening.

by Heiner Carow
with Ernst-Georg Schwill, Fred Düren, Erich Franz, Angelika Hurwicz, Wilhelm Koch-Hooge, Dietmar Simon, Bernd Trewendt, Peter Kalisch, Heinz Schröder, Heinz Schubert, Hans Klering, Siegfried Fromm German Democratic Republic 1958 German 62’ Colour & Black/White Thanks to the valuable support of the Federal Government Commissioner for Matters Relating to Persons with Disabilities, this event is barrier-free.

With

Ernst-Georg Schwill (Rainer „Amigo“ Meister)
Fred Düren (Peter „Pepp“ Grosse)
Erich Franz (Vater Sinewski)
Angelika Hurwicz (Marta Meister)
Wilhelm Koch-Hooge (Walter Meister)
Dietmar Simon (Axel „Sine“ Sinewski)
Bernd Trewendt (Horst „Hotta“ Meister)
Peter Kalisch (Gestapo-Man I)
Heinz Schröder (Gestapo-Man II)
Heinz Schubert (Gestapo-Man III)
Hans Klering (Gasman)
Siegfried Fromm (Railworker)

Crew

Director	Heiner Carow
Screenplay	Heiner Carow, Claus Küchenmeister, Wera Küchenmeister
Dramaturgy	Eleonore Schmidt-Schwarze
Cinematography	Helmut Bergmann
Camera Assistant	Peter Süring
Editing	Ilse Peters
Music	Kurt Schwaen
Sound	Werner Klein
Production Design	Willy Schiller
Costumes	Dorit Gründel
Make-Up	Hanns Wosnik
Assistant Director	Hanna Georgi
Production Manager	Paul Ramacher

World sales

Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen

Produced by

DEFA-Studio für Spielfilme

Heiner Carow

Born in Rostock in 1929, he died in Berlin in 1997. At 21 he joined the directing class at the DEFA training school in East Berlin. Following numerous short documentaries, he transferred to the DEFA feature film studio. He directed successful children's and youth films and, from the 1970s, feature films for adults. Die Legende von Paul und Paula (1972/73) became his greatest success. He won the Silver Bear at the 1990 Berlinale for Coming Out.

Filmography

1953 Ein Schritt weiter; short documentary 1954 Dorf im Herbst; short documentary · Der Strukturbohrer [Jg.1954 / Folge 06]; short documentary, co-director: Alfred Siegert, Lothar Devaal · Die Wette gilt; short documentary · Forschen und Schaffen. Folge VI; short documentary, Co-director: Alfred Siegert, Lothar Devaal 1956 Martins Tagebuch; short documentary 1957 Sheriff Teddy 1959 Sie nannten ihn Amigo 1960 Das Leben beginnt 1961 Mongolia; documentary 1964 Die Hochzeit von Länneken 1966 Die Reise nach Sundevit 1968 Die Russen kommen; Forbidden film, premiere in 1987 1971 Karriere 1973 Die Legende von Paul und Paula 1975 Ikarus 1978 Bis daß der Tod euch scheidet 1989 Coming out · Zweiradshow; short documentary, co-director: Jürgen Voigt 1992 Verfehlung

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020