As was witnessed in previous years, taboo subjects are increasingly being addressed; examples include Karlheinz Mund's "Eisenbahnerfamilie" as one of the first DEFA films to address invalidity and "The Times Of Harvey Milk" by Rob Epstein, which covers the subject of homosexuality.
Peter Ulbrich calls for active solidarity in the protest action Hands off Nicaragua; once again he draws attention to the power wielded by the weapon of "film" against imperialist suppression. Festival Director Ronald Trisch and President Annelie Thorndike support the action, as does the audience. 736 signatures and 3,160 Marks are collected in a donation action. [Festival-Chronik Teil 3]
Two exhibitions of the State Film Archive of the GDR are on show during the festival; In the Moritzbastei restored workers' photographs are on show, as an accompaniment to the retrospective "Reality and Film - proletarian and civic-progressive documentary films of the 1930s in Great Britain". In the Festival-Café of the Capitol cinema an exhibition is held to mark "25 years of new Cuban film". [Festival-Chronik Teil 3]
Golden Doves
MARŠAL ŽUKOV (USSR, Marina Babak)
THE GOOD FIGHT: THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN BRIGADE IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR (EIN GUTER KAMPF: DIE ABRAHAM-LINCOLN-BRIGADE IM SPANISCHEN BÜRGERKRIEG, USA, Noel Bruckner, Mary Dore and Sam Sills)
ROMPIENDO EL SILENCIO (WIR BRECHEN DIE STILLE, Nicaragua, Ivan Arguello)
PILETO (DER VOGEL, Animated Film, Bulgaria, Sotir Gelew)
BUDGET LASKOVY DOŽD (ES WIRD EIN ZÄRTLICHER REGEN KOMMEN, Animated Film, USSR, N. Tuljachodžaev)
Silver Doves
LEBEN IN WITTSTOCK (GDR, Volker Koepp)
KEMIRE - DIARY OF A STRIKE (KEMIRA - TAGEBUCH EINES STREIKS, Australia, Tom Zybrycki)
KIM PHUC (Netherlands, Marinus van de Kamp)
ABRIENDO BRECHA (EINE BRESCHE IST GESCHLAGEN, Bolivia, Paolo Agazzi)
Special prize of the International Jury
L' ORCHESTRE NOIR (DAS SCHWARZE ORCHESTER, Belgium, Stéphane Lejeune)