Steck lieber mal was ein - Ein Schüler wird Lehrling (1980)
A long-term observation from 1977-1980, focusing on the apprentice Gerd and his family. Gerd wants to become an electrician, but after several rejections he accepts an apprenticeship as a lathe operator at Ford. In the first two years he works in an apprentice workshop, in the third year he has to go into production; from now on he is under a lot of pressure, because the company keeps the decision as to whether to take on an apprentice as a normal employee open until the last moment. When Gerd talks about the apprenticeship at home and criticizes the training, his parents reprimand him. They say: You'd better put something away! He shouldn't stand out in the company. The work of a lathe operator is increasingly being taken over by automatic machines. Gerd realizes that he is learning a trade that no one will need any more soon.
Directors: Katharina Schubert, Dietrich Schubert.
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Gerd Zahner as Self |
| Directing | Katharina Schubert | Director |
| Writing | Katharina Schubert | Writer |
| Directing | Dietrich Schubert | Director |
| Writing | Dietrich Schubert | Writer |
| Camera | Frieder Wagner | Director of Photography |
| Camera | Karsten Müller | Director of Photography |
| Camera | Ronald Wedekind | Assistant Camera |
| Camera | Manfred Rintelen | Assistant Camera |
| Sound | Wolfgang Klein | Sound |
| Sound | Franz Rudolf Perey | Sound |
| Editing | Elisabeth Förster | Editor |
| Crew | Ingeborg Janiczek | Commissioning Editor |