Films That Have Influenced Me:

The Third Man

Light against dark shadows in the ruined-city landscape of my childhood memory,

merging with my inner life.

Memories at six years old

On the train to Vienna

We are travelling on the train to Vienna. My mother is going back for the first time since she left. It is winter, there is snow everywhere. I am enchanted.
Now Russian soldiers have stopped the train in the middle of nowhere.They come onto the train. They are looking in each carriage. They open our carriage door and ask everybody for their passports. I have my own passport and I am very proud of it. The soldier looks serious. Everybody is nervous. Then he sees me with my black doll and his face changes. He smiles and chats to us in Russian, and leaves the carriage smiling. Soon the train starts to move again. We see a few people from the train standing outside with the soldiers, in the dark. No-one says anything.

In the Russian zone

I think we are staying in the Russian zone with my grandmother and my aunt. We all live in one room in an old people’s home where my grandmother works as a doctor.

Walking through Vienna

We are walking through Vienna. There are bombed buildings everywhere. Sometimes we have to climb over the rubble and the ruins. Some cafes are open.

The old flat

I am with my mother and my aunt. We are visiting the old flat. It’s the first time anyone in the family has been back to the flat which used to belong to them before they were moved away. There is a gigantic hole in the floor of the main room, and there is only just enough space to edge round. We carefully look over the edge, down the hole through several floors. I’m told a bomb has hit the house and gone through all five floors.

Film rooms

I am sitting on a high stool. I have been told to be very quiet because they are making a film. My mother is dressed up in a costume and looks very beautiful. There are groups of people talking before they start to film. I am looking at lots of different rooms inside a huge hall. There seem to be many cameras, with people riding behind them. I am in the dark and the rooms are lit up. It’s so exciting and no-one can see me.