Haus Tugendhat

The Tugendhat House in Brno, Czech Republic, is a solitaire of modern architecture. It represents the social utopian aspiration of the architect Mies van der Rohe and the open-minded upper-class life design of his clients Grete and Fritz Tugendhat. The film tells the changeful story of the unique building and its inhabitants: of the spirit of optimism in the prosperous Western Moravia between the world wars, the occupation by Nazi Germany, the forced displacement and emigration of the Tugendhat family to Switzerland and Venezuela, of the first postwar years when the house was used as a rhythmics and ballet school and of the decades afterwards. In the late forties the former magnate's house became a therapy centre and then a school for children suffering from scoliosis. During the communist era the house was a social biotope, an island inmidst a not very disabled-friendly world. (Berlinale)