The East – Discover Where You Live: The Film Women of ORWO

Wolfen near Bitterfeld: huge old halls from the heyday of the 1920s, faded logos, prefabricated housing estates and hundreds of stories. All of it recalls ORWO: “Original Wolfen”. ORWO stands for the world’s first colour film, for Europe’s largest film and fibre producer, for the GDR’s economic miracle. In Egypt and India people filmed and photographed only on ORWO; even Hollywood came knocking. The once largest film factory in the GDR owes its success above all to the women of Wolfen. It is their nimble hands that cope with the demands of film production better than those of the men. ORWO quickly became the GDR’s largest women’s enterprise – and remained so until the end. But not everyone was here voluntarily. For decades ORWO used prisoners from the surrounding jails in production. Political prisoners and criminals toiled in Wolfen under at times inhumane conditions. From the end of the 1960s prostitutes were added. For in 1968 prostitution was made a criminal offence in the GDR and the women – “kerbside swallows” in GDR parlance – were likewise forced to work in large factories.

The film “Brigade Happiness and Forced Labour – The Film Women of Wolfen” brings the history of the women workers back to life and for the first time also reveals the dark sides of ORWO. The stories of the film women show ORWO as a dream factory with its lights and shadows.