All over the United States, institutions and individuals exhibit fragments of the Berlin Wall, commemorating its fall from thousands of kilometres away. Are they displaying universal symbols of democratic rights, or incongruously appropriating other people’s history? This astonishing essay by Pacho Velez (Manakamana, The Reagan Show) and Courtney Stephens explores the integration of relics from a shattered European order into American culture. Combining keen senses of irony and spectacle with the charm of contemplative 16 mm footage, the filmmakers’ postcards reflect on the different meanings acquired by the Wall on this side of the Atlantic – for the powerful and the oppressed alike. Is a useful historical legacy, or a misunderstood one? (Charlotte Selb)

The American Sector