This straightforward account of Beyer, who appears to have been East Germany's most prominent film director (Konrad Wolf could give him some competition) mainly serves to show me how little I know about his work. Only Spur der Steine, circulated after the Wall come down because of the 1966 ban, and Nikolaikirche which was tucked away in a small auditorium at the Sydney Film Festival and still managed to make it into the audience poll, have reached here.
The work is basically a long interview, with Beyer sitting in a chair, and clips of his work dropped in the appropriate places. Recognisable performers Senta Berger, Hans Christian Blech and Armin Mueller-Stahl show up unidentified. Beyer's disillusion with the Marxist state along with his ambition to make work of high seriousness make an interesting conflict.