Those who stayed constantly talk about the future.

Every other house in Freimfelde, a former working-class neighbourhood, is empty. The lack of jobs, the absence of local suppliers, and the presence of decay are long-term effects of structural decline: in these parts of former Eastern Germany, the reunification of 1989 led to the closures of vital companies, caused high unemployment rates, and resulted in massive out-migration.

In Freiimfelde, people’s sense of the present is challenged by two absent levels of time: the no-longer of the past, which everybody remembers differently, and the not-yet of a future - fragile and in contradiction to the municipality's vision of the seemingly empty neighbourhood.

An intimate portrait of five residents, "The Painters of the Future" examines current living conditions in Freiimfelde, tensions between post-industrialization and gentrification, and the ubiquitous call to “participate” in urban development.