Unruh

Ahead of the Werkleitz Festival 2026 Sooner or Later (July 2–12 at the Puschkinhaus), Puschkino and Werkleitz present films on the theme of time. The series opens on Wednesday, April 1, with a screening of Unruh.

1877: The Russian cartographer Pyotr Kropotkin arrives in a valley in the Swiss Jura, drawn by the region’s highly developed watchmaking industry and the news that workers have formed an anarchist union. He encounters a society where officials and gendarmes monitor the correct time and set the pace for production and community life. The processes in the watch factories are organized with ever greater efficiency, and the second-by-second control creates mounting pressure on the workers. Josephine knows this all too well: she oversees the assembly of the balance wheel, the heart of the mechanical watch, and meets the visiting Kropotkin. Inspired by anarchist ideas, they call for the liberation of time, placing solidarity and pacifism above market laws and nationalism.