Bread

16mm Film - Bread - BRD 1961

Direction: Herbert Ballmann

Script: Thomas Keck

Camera: Ekkehard Kyrath and Hans Hauptmann

Music: Peter Sandloff

Without commentary, the images speak an eloquent language about the significance of bread as the primary foodstuff for humanity. One sees the growth of grain, the plowing, sowing, ripening and harvesting, and the milling of grain in mills. In a modern bakery, one learns about the baking process and the diverse range of baked goods. Abundance of bread, pastries and treats is often paired with little respect for bread. Thus, pieces of bread and baked goods — whether usable or spoiled — are thoughtlessly and carelessly thrown away in garbage cans and school rooms. A lack of bread leads to hunger and malnutrition, unrest and dissatisfaction. Many hands reach out towards bread as an urgent appeal to the well-fed people living in prosperity to help the hungry.