Sun Alley

Sonnenallee, Germany 1999

Western pop music is banned and asthma medication is the only recreational drug available. According to the official line, the Berlin Wall is a bulwark against fascists and the rest of the world is the enemy of the people. Such is Michael’s homeland, the GDR.

Michael lives on the East German end of a street that is cut in two by the Berlin wall. He and his friends wear bell-bottoms and home-printed t-shirts and listen in secret to Western pop.
Michael’s father watches Western TV, his mother is secretly trying to escape with a stolen passport, and his West German uncle supplies the family with hidden treats. To top matters off, their next-door neighbour is a suspected Stasi spy.
But Michael is more interested in girls, and his efforts are focused on winning the heart of the prettiest girl at school. A film about life in the seventies at the tail end of Sun Alley, in the shadow of the Berlin Wall…

“A lively, beautifully played coming-of-ager that takes a comic look at an era usually portrayed through bleak dramas or espionage thrillers.” Variety