Coming Out

Coming Out (1989)

In the end, you have to follow your heart.

Philipp, a closeted teacher, is dating a female colleague to keep up appearances. One night he stumbles into a gay bar and falls for a man. Transformed by this love, he is no longer afraid to face up to who he is.

Date of release
1989-11-09
TMDB
6.6 / 10 (49)
Runtime
1h 53m
Genres
Drama, Romance
Director
Heiner Carow

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: Berlin
  • Awards: 2 · Nominations: 0. Including: Silver Bear; Teddy Award

Coming Out is a 1989 East German film directed by Heiner Carow and written by Wolfram Witt which deals with the lead character, a high school teacher, "coming out" and accepting himself as gay. It was the last East German film released to the public prior to the German reunification and one of the last films made by DEFA, the East German state film studio, and the only gay-themed feature film that it made.

Production

The opening scene follows an ambulance through well-known areas and boroughs such as Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin-Mitte (Alexander Platz) and Friedrichshain on a night that the audience could assume is New Year's Eve, due to the fireworks in the background.

Scenes filmed in the school where Philipp teaches were filmed in the Carl-von-Ossietzky-Gymnasium, a historical building and school in Pankow and some halls were used in a few scenes.

The family of Lothar Bisky allowed scenes which took place in Tanja's apartment to be filmed in their Berlin home. Bisky was the director of the University of Film and Television (Potsdam-Babelsberg) from 1986 to 1990 and later, in the reunified Germany, he became a left wing politician. Two of his three sons are gay, one of whom is Berlin-based painter Norbert Bisky.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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