Christiane F.
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Christiane F. (full name Christiane Vera Felscherinow), was born in West Berlin on May 20, 1962. Christiane is famous for her struggle with drug addiction, especially to heroin. When she was 12 years old, she first smoked hashish; by the time she was 14, she was a junkie and prostitute in the Bahnhof Zoo scene, an infamous group of teenaged drug users and prostitutes (of both sexes) in Berlin. Christiane tried numerous times to overcome her addiction, but didn't become totally clean until the birth of her son in 1996. As of 2004, she remains clean and lives with her son in a small apartment in Neukölln.
The book
Her story is well known in Germany because two journalists from the news magazine Stern, Kai Herrmann and Horst Rieck, ran a series of articles about her life and her addiction which eventually led to the successful book Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo. The report chronicles her life from 1975 to 1978, when she was aged 12-15. The narrative of the book is in the first person, from Christiane's viewpoint, but was written down by the journalists functioning as ghostwriters.
The film
In 1981, the story was made into a film directed by Uli Edel and produced by Bernd Eichinger and Hans Weth. Its title in Germany was Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo, and in English-speaking countries Christiane F. The screenplay was written by Herman Weigel. Christiane worked as an advisor for the film, but did not appear in it herself. David Bowie, Christiane's favorite singer at the time of the story, appears as himself.
Cast:
- Christiane F. - Natja Brunckhorst
- Detlev - Tomas Haustein
- Axel - Jens Kuphal
- Babsi - Christiane Reichelt
- Kessi - Daniela Jaeger
External links
- christiane f. : wir kinder vom bahnhof zoo (http://christianef.jarophoto.de/)
- The film at IMDb (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0082176/)