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Nanammal Amma, yoga master:


“Yoga was and is my life.”

Tamar Eshel, diplomat:


"At the end of 1943 it was decided that I would go to the secret service."

Haydée Arteaga Rojas, educator:


»I found my grandmother to be a great storyteller.

Looks like I inherited that!”

A look at 100 years of history – and emancipation.

Filmmaker Uli Gaulke portrays five women from different corners of the world.

Their average age: 100 years.

A project in which the women themselves were able to decide what was told, not the director.

Because there was a simple agreement:

Uli Gaulke, film director “Her Century”:


“That the film brings her story into the world and thus endures, even after her death.

That means: It is their legacy.«

Each of these women changed their society in some way.

This is also the case for Nermin Abadan-Unat, originally from Vienna, who moved to Turkey alone at the age of 14 to enjoy the free education introduced by Atatürk.

Nermin Abadan-Unat, sociologist:


»I admired Atatürk very much because he had a plan in his head to create a modern Turkey.

A Turkey in which women are not veiled and have all rights.«

The sociologist celebrated her hundredth birthday during filming.

She continues to be a sought-after conversation partner for the great- and great-great-grandchildren's generation:

Nermin Abadan-Unat, sociologist:


»You are young, hopefully you will experience a better Turkey.

Don't give up hope.

Hang in there!”

Uli Gaulke, director:


»And then there is clearly talk about democracy in Turkey.

And this is also openly stated in front of the camera, what the positions are.

It was also always said that you run the risk of being arrested yourself - at the age of 102.

So it's all not without it.

And she was brave enough to do that.”

Nermin Abadan-Unat, sociologist:


“I said: Don’t give up hope, resist!”

Working on a project about women with an average age of 100 for four years is a risk anyway, and there was also a two-year break from filming during the corona pandemic.

Uli Gaulke, director:


"I think that the moment we said goodbye after filming in each country, we already knew that we wouldn't see each other again."

Getting to know women and getting closer to them was a challenge for Gaulke, especially in the case of Ilse Helbich, the Austrian writer.

At the age of 65, she separated from her husband - and has no longer been dependent on men since then.

There was no exception for a filmmaker.

Uli Gaulke, director:


»

She said: Yes, it takes a lot for me to keep the door open for you.

Mr. Gaulke, make an effort, make something of it.

Yes, and then we'll see if I'm willing to join you.

And then it happened that after three days we were in such a flow, constantly discussing things intensively with each other, that she wanted that too.

She then said every day: Let’s work, Mr. Gaulke!”

Together they also deal with Ilse Helbich's Nazi past: what it was like as a young girl to take part in the Nazi organization Bund Deutscher Mädel.

A recollection that wasn’t always easy.

And still a healing process.

Ilse Helbich, writer:


»Do you know, Mr. Gaulke, what else I wanted to tell you?

What this film did to my attitude towards my own biography.

On the whole, the women lived in captivity and did not perceive this captivity.

That’s how I would define it for myself.”

Uli Gaulke, director:


»We had a very close friendship after filming.

I spoke to her on the phone two days before she died and we said goodbye because it was clear that she was dying.

And she was very happy when I was able to tell her: The film will be in cinemas on March 8, 2024.

And she was proud of that.

There was silence on the other end of the phone, and two days later my daughter called me: Ilse had fallen asleep peacefully.

And that touches me deeply.

That I’ve now finished what they set out to do with me.”

Namely: a different look at “their century”.