Filmed in East Berlin after the dismantling of the Wall, when bitter controverse raged in the press concerning the role writers had played in the German Democratic Republic, this programme considers the experiences of four writers from different generations – Christa Wolf, Christoph Hein, Helga Königsdorf and Bert Papenfuss.

The Colombian author, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982, is best-known for his novels. One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera, which have become phenomenal best-sellers world-wide. Less well known is his interest in, and work for, cinema. In this film, shot in Colombia and Cuba, Márquez gives a rare interview in which he talks about his involvement in Latin American cinema and the way in which this intermeshes with his writing.