The Second Awakening of Christa Klages 
Margarethe von Trotta’s solo directorial debut and the film that marked her out as one of the key women writer-directors of the New German Cinema movement, The Second Awakening of Christa Klages is an acutely observed reflection of her favourite theme: the powerful and often mysterious psychic bond among women.
It follows a young woman who robs a bank to pay for her daughter’s day-care with the help of her lover. On the run, she is pursued by the police and more ambiguously, also by the young woman who was her hostage in the raid.
Shot on a shoestring budget, this compelling and convincing drama explores female relationships, sisterhood and the troubling uses and effects of violence. It was also one of a handful of contemporary films that responded to the events surrounding the national terrorist collective Baader-Meinhof, a topic that von Trotta returned to in her later work (such as The German Sisters, 1981).
Part of The Personal Is Political: The Films of Margarethe von Trotta. The first female director to win the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival, Margarethe von Trotta (1942-) is to thank for some of the most trailblazing films of the past five decades. Often hailed as the world’s leading feminist filmmaker, von Trotta has never shied away from topics that resonate with contemporary lives and prompt revolutionary discussions.
The Personal is Political is a touring programme delivered by the ICO with the support of the BFI, awarding funds from The National Lottery.
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The German Sisters
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Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg is Margarethe von Trotta’s remarkable biopic of one of the most fascinating figures in modern European political history. Having fought for women’s rights and to revolutionise the state in early 20th century Poland and Germany, the Marxist revolutionary Luxemburg (1871-1919) formed the famous Spartacist League, later the Communist Party of Germany before, after a failed uprising, she was murdered in Berlin aged 47.