Life in the Spin Cycle –
Rich and Poor in the Laundromat

(30’), ZDF-series 37°, Sept 4, 2012
Topic: Freddy-Leck’s laundromat is frequented by the full spectrum of clients, from welfare recipients to politicians.

Market share: 9.8 %
Viewers: 2.2 million

Sunday is laundry day and it is peak period at Freddy Leck’s laundromat. Freddy’s regular customers include welfare recipients and politicians, students and professors, penniless young men and old ladies with euros stashed under their pillows. Here they are all equal for a little while, as academics and the unemployed load their dirty laundry into the machines and wait for their socks and underwear to get clean.

Freddy’s laundromat is one of the few places where people from all walks of life come together. The reason for this is that Freddy offers something for everyone: for the hurried people from the government district, which is just around the corner, and for those who live in the poorer housing developments towards Berlin-Moabit. They all have their place at the laundromat. The Waschsalon lives up to its name, furnished like a parlor with wallpapered walls, classical music and board games. While the washing spins, people write job applications, drink coffee or chat with tourists from all over the world. There are high spirits alongside woeful tales. Freddy, who also works as an actor, has customers who cannot afford 80 cents for the dryer. 37° accompanies Freddy, a granny and a number of other hedonists in their attempts to master the conflict between a longing for humanity and the financial constraints of the modern world.