Arena 196 - Zwischen Wende, Wahl und Wirklichkeit (2023)

The film follows five male candidates and one female candidate in the Suhl–Schmalkalden-Meiningen–Hildburghausen–Sonneberg Bundestag constituency (constituency 196) during the 2021 federal election campaign. Frank Ullrich (SPD), Hans-Georg Maaßen (CDU), Sandro Witt (The Left), Gerald Ullrich (FDP), Stephanie Erben (Alliance 90/The Greens), and Stefan Schellenberg (ÖDP) ran against one another. The AfD candidate refused to cooperate with the film crew. The nomination of the controversial former president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maaßen, as the CDU’s constituency candidate drew widespread attention in the national media. In an effort to prevent Maaßen, who is regarded as far-right, from winning, the campaign platform Campact got involved in the election campaign. It called on the Green and Left Party candidates to agree on a joint candidate. When the candidates rejected this, Campact commissioned a poll and decided, on the basis of its results, that SPD candidate Ullrich had the best chances. As a result, Campact supported a candidate directly for the first time, backing him. The film documents the candidates’ election campaigns under these circumstances.