Choices/Voices

WIE WIR WOLLEN was born out of anger and bewilderment. Before my exploration of reproductive rights took a cinematic form, I was active in a group with the goal of making information about sexual and reproductive health in the German and especially Berlin context accessible to newcomers to the city. In this context, I learned that simply informing people about abortions is a criminal offense for doctors, and that abortions themselves are illegal.

In 2017, the conviction of the physician Kristina Hänel for stating on her website, that she offers abortions (in addition to other services), once again drew attention to the extent of restricted access to abortion in Germany. A few months later, a majority in the Bundestag had formed to abolish §219a of the German Penal Code - which prohibits the "advertising" of abortions. Due to pressure from the Christian Democratic/Social Union on the Social Democratic Party, which consequently withdrew its support, the abolition failed. At that moment, I could no longer escape the need to make this film.

At that point, my research had also shown that there are very few films on the subject - and even fewer that take a clear position and don't try to adopt a justificatory stance. I wanted to make a film that focused on the voices of the people who had this experience in the German context and emphasized the systemic aspect of the personal. I also wanted to venture to the meta-level, which is often neglected, and ask larger, related questions. Where does this restriction come from in the first place? What does German history have to do with it? Which actors have the power to make themselves heard, and which others are deliberately ignored? What does the illegalization of abortion have to do with the restrictions on queer people starting families? Why does the media accuse racialized people of having too many children? Why is family reunification, which refugees are entitled to, often not implemented? Why are the rights of disabled people left out of feminist debates and activism on reproductive rights?
In other words - what about reproductive justice in the German context?

Beyond the content, it was important to me from the beginning to find a feminist form that consciously avoids the male standard in documentary film - the "male gaze". For me, this means not shying away from placing the lived experience at the center of the narrative and asking the audience to embrace and listen to women, non-binary and trans people. With this in mind, the omniscient "neutral" off-screen voice in the documentary is replaced by a chorus of women, non-binary and trans people as a stylistic device. The chorus represents the diversity of perspectives that each narrative and story holds. The staging of the chorus in everyday situations also figuratively represents the ubiquity of oppression: our bodies are regulated on a daily basis, not just when we are about to terminate a pregnancy. In the process, the old symbols of "horror" (coat hangers, knitting needles) are supplemented with less familiar historical symbols - for example, the picnic, which was used as a code word for illegal abortions in West Germany in the 70s-80s.

Ultimately, for me, this film was about daring to make a film at all, without a film school education, without cis men, without film funding, and without a production company. Who even gets to make films, and about what, and how? This film sees itself as an alternative answer to these questions and it was a great honor for me to have learned that it’s possible to do it in this way.