Dirt for Dinner (Dreckfresser)

Branwen Okpako (2000)

Germany

Genre: Documentary

Around the time of unification, Germany saw a shocking outbreak of racist violence, including vicious attacks on hostels for asylum seekers in the former East. Was the new Germany really so xenophobic? Determined to launch an anti-racist advertising campaign a prominent East German newspaper lighted upon Leipzig-born Sam Meffire: young, attractive, talented - and one of the few black policemen in the whole country. Meffire's face was soon plastered across magazines and billboards as the perfect symbol of multicultural Germnay. but how did this idealistic young man, hungy for approval and acceptance cope with the pressure of suddenly finding himself both a media star and a role model for society? In her accomplished graduation film, Branwen Okpako (who was born in Lagos,Nigeria,  and studied in the UK and Germany)  probes the conscience of the liberal establishment, uncovering the complex motivation of the high-profile politicians and journalists who both befriended and exploited Sam Meffire. From Sam's German mother we get the stranger-than-fiction story of Sam's father and of the boy's childhood in East Germany. And Sam himself, currently serving a ten year prison sentence for robbery, given an eloquent insight into his own tragic fate. (Summary from 4th German Film Festival, London, 2001) 

Posted by Daniela Berghahn on 19 Apr 2006 •

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