Trace of Stones

A large construction site in East Germany. The planning is bad, materials do not arrive, work does not move. The foreman Hannes Balla and his crew get things done their own way; they pay little attention to the rules, but the work gets finished. Horrath, newly arrived as party secretary, is charged with bringing them into line. At the same time both men are drawn to Kati, a young engineer, and the matter stops being about work. Frank Beyer's film opened in 1966 and was pulled from cinemas three days later. Disturbances were staged at screenings, the film was found to be anti-socialist and it stayed on the shelf until November 1989. When it was released again it drew large audiences. Manfred Krug plays Balla. Today it is among the best known of the banned films of East German cinema.