65 Years BRAVO

Love, Stars and Doktor Sommer

ZDFinfo, 2021, 45 minutes

For millions of young people, "Bravo" was a fixed instance of growing up: fan cult, sex education and first love. For 65 years, the youth magazine influenced entire generations.

When it was first published in 1956, no one imagined how much it would fuel the sexual revolution and social change. For decades, "Bravo" sold more issues than any other magazine and reached almost 100 percent of its target group of 10- to 15-year-olds. For many parents it was dreaded trash, even banned in the GDR - but for teenagers in East and West it was an irreplaceable pioneer. What significance did "Bravo" really have, what tricks did it use to bind its readership to itself and was it really so revolutionary? Former "Bravo" fans and celebrities like Uschi Glas, Wolfgang Niedecken (BAP), Enie van de Meiklokjes or Jessica and Nadja from the No Angels remember, how "Bravo" sometimes turns controversial bands like the Rolling Stones into nice sons-in-law in order to finally bring them to Germany on an exclusive tour, what influence the youth magazine has on the music industry and how smuggled "Bravo" posters were hard currency in the schoolyard in the GDR.

65 Years of "Bravo" - Love, Stars and Doktor Sommer tells the story of Germany's most important youth magazine and its significance for growing up in our country, whether in the West or the East, with powerful images and the most influential beats of the last decades. How a pop magazine helped Germany to become the modern and liberal state we live in today.