Airing collective dreams of being independent, known, and loved, Solo Sunny took East Germany’s youth by storm. Time-capsuling all the sounds and colors of the GDR, this vibrant portrait of a woman with starry eyes remains iconic for Renate Krössner’s deeply moving, Silver Bear–awarded performance.

Konrad Wolf looked back at his personal journals for this tremendous film, an impressive reckoning with the pitiful ends of war. With subtlety, empathy, and starkest realism, I Was Nineteen illuminates how a homeland now synonymous with “Goethe and Auschwitz” hangs heavy over the heads of the young.