Films

• Palau – Blue Sky13'

  GER 2011, 13’

  In 2009 the tiny Pacific state of Palau agreed to accept six Guantánamo detainees who in China belonged to the oppressed Muslim minority of the Uyghurs. Despite proof that they were innocent they had been unable to return to their home country after seven years’ imprisonment in Guantánamo. Johnson Toribiong, Palau’s president, talks so sympathetically of the problems and needs of the exiles that it’s difficult to believe a politician is speaking. We see images of daily life on the idyllic South Sea island, where the Uyghurs – without passports – are again to some extent prisoners.

   

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  Authors:

  • Christoph Faulhaber
  • Daniel Matzke
• Democratic Locations (Version Deutschland) / Miejsca demokracji6'

  GER 2011, 6’

  Berlin: Potsdamer Platz on 17 June 1953, outside the Deutsche Oper on 2 June 1967, on Alexanderplatz on 4 November 1989. Brief, truncated original sound bites are superimposed on the black and white images of the historical sites as they appear today: big cars and tourists. The camera pans and zooms. Searching for the spirit of democracy. Outside the Federal Chancellery we see splashing fountains and lost bleating sheep.

   

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  Authors:

  • Thomas Kutschker
• Young pines / Młode sosny43'

  GER 2011, 43’

  “Young Pines” was made during three trips to Japan. The director visited the island state for the first time in 2009 as part of a film tour. “Everywhere – even in the big cities – I felt the strong connection the Japanese have to Nature. I was fascinated that there appeared to be no conflict between Nature and culture, and this seemed to link up with my own work.” (Ute Aurand) The result is a series of delicate images with impressions from many parts of Japan. In addition to young pines we see people in a hat shop, busy with the harvest, on the streets, branches moving in the wind, sparkling or smooth bodies of water, but also foaming floods, with or without sound, filmed before 11 March 2011 – and cut after that date.

   

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  Authors:

  • Ute Aurand
• The white gold and other tales / Białe złoto i inne opowieści25'

  ITA 2012, 25’

  Water inundates a mountain village. Then we see maintenance work being done on a dam. The unspectacular, monotonous actions are in contrast to the breathtaking setting. This Alpine landscape at an altitude of thousands of metres was the scene of fighting during the First World War. Archive footage shows a battalion of soldiers climbing into the mountains through the snow, trenches being dug and guns being positioned. Finally pictures of the flooded mountain village. Fascinating images from far off places and times.

   

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  Authors:

  • Lorenzo Apolli
• Our days, absolutely, have to be enlightened / Nasze czasy, bez wątpienia, muszą być oświecone22'

  FRA 2011, 22’

  People are singing behind prison walls. Outside, a small crowd has gathered, because the often wistful songs are coming from loud speakers. The audience can’t see the singers, but we can watch the faces of the listeners. Their expressions mirror the emotions on both sides of the wall. The visual and the acoustic levels create an extraordinary bond. A moving concert – with applause.

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  Authors:

  • Jean-Gabriel Périot