Weg mit 218!/ Down with 218!

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For over 100 years, §218/219 have regulated abortion in Germany and remain a symbol of control over reproductive rights. While the political debate continues and right-wing forces gain influence, the film accompanies the ‘Bündnis für Sexuelle Selbstbestimmung’ in their commitment. The focus is on the preparation and organisation of the large-scale demonstration in Berlin on 7 December 2024. Interviews and footage provide insights into activist, political and civil society processes. Anger, concern, and defiance intensify in times of political change and are unleashed at the demonstration—as a fight not only for the abolition of Paragraph 218, but also against budget cuts and patriarchal, racist, and fascist structures. The filmmakers produced the film as part of a seminar in their Master's degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology on the subject of "Collaborative Filmmaking between Activism and Anthropology". This film project by Naomi Maaike Schmitz and Anne Preuß with support from Christina Kapp, Venla Aitta, Idil Deniz, Tomás Azócar Dannemann emerged from the Master’s seminar Collaborative Filmmaking and Activism. United by a shared interest in politics, gender, medical and psychological anthropology, and a commitment to using methods from engaged, public, and visual anthropology, this project marked the first hands-on experience in filmmaking, sound, and editing for all team members. Rooted in personal political concerns, feminist theory, and engaged anthropology, the film evolved in collaboration with Ines Scheibe from the Alliance for Sexual Self-Determination and Nora Szász from Doctors for Choice.

For over 100 years, §218/219 have regulated abortion in Germany and remain a symbol of control over reproductive rights. While the political debate continues and right-wing forces gain influence, the film accompanies the ‘Bündnis für Sexuelle Selbstbestimmung’ in their commitment. The focus is on the preparation and organisation of the large-scale demonstration in Berlin on 7 December 2024. Interviews and footage provide insights into activist, political and civil society processes. Anger, concern, and defiance intensify in times of political change and are unleashed at the demonstration—as a fight not only for the abolition of Paragraph 218, but also against budget cuts and patriarchal, racist, and fascist structures. The filmmakers produced the film as part of a seminar in their Master's degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology on the subject of "Collaborative Filmmaking between Activism and Anthropology". This film project by Naomi Maaike Schmitz and Anne Preuß with support from Christina Kapp, Venla Aitta, Idil Deniz, Tomás Azócar Dannemann emerged from the Master’s seminar Collaborative Filmmaking and Activism. United by a shared interest in politics, gender, medical and psychological anthropology, and a commitment to using methods from engaged, public, and visual anthropology, this project marked the first hands-on experience in filmmaking, sound, and editing for all team members. Rooted in personal political concerns, feminist theory, and engaged anthropology, the film evolved in collaboration with Ines Scheibe from the Alliance for Sexual Self-Determination and Nora Szász from Doctors for Choice.