Beyond the Blue Border + Introduction and Q&A with Dorit Linke

Goethe-Institut Glasgow

FOKUS: Films from Germany Festival - Youth Programme

Fokus: Films from Germany

From 21 January to 21 February 2026, we are delighted to present a diverse and engaging selection of German cinema, showcasing a wide range of themes and genres. All films will be screened in their original language with English subtitles.

We are delighted to welcome Dorit Linke, author of the novel on which the film is based. She will open the film with an introduction and will be available for a Q&amp;A afterwards. Dorit Linke will also visit several Scottish schools as part of our Focus School Programme. About the film The GDR in the summer of 1989: Ambitious Hanna is a talented swimmer. She trains hard to fulfil her dream of Olympic victory one day. When she is not training, she prefers to spend her free time with her best friend Andreas, as well as Jens, a new class mate. Andreas' unconventional manner repeatedly brings him into conflict with the GDR system. When he is threatened with a stay in a re-education camp, he and Hanna decide to flee across the Baltic Sea swimming – 50 km across the water, completely on their own and connected only by a thin string around their wrists. A film about boarders and boundaries, breaking free of them, social expectations and friendship. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Dorit Linke. Directed by Sarah Neumann, 2024, 102 min The film is part of Fokus' youth programme and can be booked for school screenings. Age recommendation: From S3 onwards. For enquiries, please contact culture-glasgow@goethe.de. Dorit Linke lives in Berlin and writes primarily about the GDR, gives writing workshops and writes plays. She was born in Rostock in 1971. In her young adult novel ‘Jenseits der blauen Grenze’ (Beyond the Blue Border), she deals with the 1980s in the GDR and the political and personal experiences of her generation. The novel is required reading in schools, has been translated into American and Russian, staged as a play and made into a film. The sequel will be published by Arena Verlag in 2026. Dorit Linke's books have received many awards: nomination for the German Youth Literature Prize, IBBY Honour List, White Ravens Book, Golden Book Pirate, Leipzig Reading Compass. She is a contemporary witness for the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship and is in constant dialogue with young people through her writing workshops. In 2023, she was honoured with the Federal Cross of Merit for her political education work. The film is part of Fokus' youth programme and can be booked for school screenings. Age recommendation: From S3 onwards. For enquiries, please contact culture-glasgow@goethe.de.

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