Pamela Meyer–Arndt is a freelance writer and director.
Her documentaries are shown on television, in cinemas, in museums and in cultural institutions both domestically and around the world.
The documentary VILLAGE LOVE portrays everyday existence in the small Thuringia village of Berka over the last 60 years. The local miller’s son, Ludwig Schirmer, photographed his village’s daily life before moving on to become an advertising executive. His photos of Berka possess an aura of stunning authenticity. His daughter Ute Mahler and her husband Werner Mahler, both previously known for photography prior to the fall of the Iron Curtain, continued this photographic documentation. The result is a visual time capsule of a community over the course of decades. Where once there was small town community, today there is merely isolation (separation?).
| Protagonists | Ute Mahler, Werner Mahler, die Bewohner des Dorfes Berka |
| Author / Director | Pamela Meyer-Arndt |
| Camera | Peter Badel |
| Sound | Jürgen Schönhoff |
| Montage | Gudrun Steinbrück |
| Music | Tonfarm Leipzig |
| Financing | Pamela Meyer-Arndt |
| Producer | Maria Wischnewski |
| Producer | Christian Beetz |
| Production | Gebrüder Beetz Filmproduktion |
| Partner | MDR, Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Defa Stiftung |
| Length / Year | 90 Min. / 2010 |
| Format | Digi-Beta, DVD |
photo: gundula schulze-eldowy
JUST AN ORDINARY LIFE relates the life and work of Helga Paris, Sibylle Bergemann and Gundula Schulze-Eldowy, three photographers living in East Berlin during the GDR era. All three worked freelance in their own unique way, sometimes on the very edge of illegality. Censored and forbidden to work, they created a critical and sensitive portrait of the GDR. The photographers remember the genesis of their photographic series, their exciting lives, their roles as women and their experiences with censorship and the Stasi.
| Protagonists | Sibylle Bergemann, Helga Paris, Gundula Schulze-Edowy |
| Author / Director | Pamela Meyer-Arndt |
| Camera | Andreas Höfer |
| Music | Jan Tilman Schade |
| Montage | Hanka Knipper |
| sound mixing | Hans Schumann |
| Sound | Andreas Gläßer, Peter Schmidt |
| Production | Pamela Meyer-Arndt Filmproduktion |
| Jahr | 2006 |
| Format | Digi-Beta |
| Length | 76 Min. |
| Partner | MDR / WDR / 3sat |
Can music be an adventure? If you were a GDR musician and the Wall suddenly fell, then yes! From one day to the next, a whole new world opened up. WENDZEITEN looks at the careers of composers and musicians in East and West Germany. Among the interviewed are the composers Helmut Lachenmann, Helmut Oehring and Georg Katzer and the musicians Georg Kallweit and Stephan Mai.
| Protagonists | Helmut Lachenmann, Helmut Oehring, Georg Katzer, Georg Kallweit, Stephan Mai |
| Author/ Director | Pamela Meyer-Arndt |
| Camera | Honno Kunow |
| Montage | Hanka Knipper |
| Sound | Michael Fiedler |
| Producer | Pamela Meyer-Arndt |
| Production | Radial System Berlin |
| Partner | Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Aufführungsort Kampnagelfabrik Hamburg |
| Year | 2009 |
| Length | 30 Min. |
| Format | DVD |
photo: sibylle bergemann
In DIE MÄRCHENHAFTE, photographer Sibylle Bergemann takes a look back. As a GDR photographer, she worked for the legendary magazine “Sibylle” and as a freelancer. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, she took photos for many reputable West German magazines such as Geo and Stern and saw the world – Yemen, for example. There she created dreamlike images of women in haute Couture.
| Protagonists | Sibylle Bergemann, Helga Paris, Gundula Schulze-Edowy |
| Author / Director | Pamela Meyer-Arndt |
| Camera | Andreas Höfer |
| Montage | Hanka Knipper |
| sound mixing | Hans Schumann |
| Sound | Andreas Gläßer |
| Production | Pamela Meyer-Arndt Filmproduktion |
| Jahr | 2006 |
| Format | Digi-Beta |
| Length | 30 Min. |
| Partner | MDR |