Section: POLSKIE HORYZONTY: The Female Gaze

No longer our Homeland

No longer our Homeland

Kristof Gerega
Germany, 2017, 92 Min

Hate, forced resettlement and the fade of events into oblivion: a village in eastern Poland witnesses a massacre committed by Ukrainian nationalists at the end of the Second World War. The survivors move West, to lands once inhabited by Germans. The director resolves to follow in his ancestors' footsteps, only to find that memories have faded.

Kristof Gerega

"I don't want to hear of these murders anymore" says a villager, in a sentiment mirrored by his neighbours. During the Second World War Ukrainian nationalists attempt to ethnically cleanse Poland's former eastern territories of ethnic Poles, in reaction to which Polish partisans retaliate with attacks on Ukrainian civilians. With the cessation of hostilities Polish citizens based in then-Soviet territories were forced to move west. These individuals included the director's father, who was expelled from his native village of Hanaczów and subsequently settled in Radzimów (known in German as Bellmannsdorf) in Lower Silesia.

The film narrates how nationalist hatred can destroy life in a village whose inhabitants had hitherto lived in harmony for centuries, as well as the fact that it can take generations before those affected are ready to think of reconciliation, issues that also feature in Wojciech Smarzowski's feature film WOŁYŃ/VOLHYNIA in this year's NATIONAL HITS section. WMH

Filmformat
DCP | Doc. | Farbe / colour
Drehbuch
Kristof Gerega
Kamera
Fabian Altenried
Ton
Kristof Gerega
Schnitt
Kristof Gerega
Produzent
Kristof Gerega
Produktion
Schuldenberg Films
Co-Produktion
Weltfilm, Film Art Production
Kontakt
Schuldenberg Films
Kristof Gerega
Holbrechtstraße 79
12043 Berlin
Germany
+49.30.34.08.97 56
+49.17.91.99.76 09
www.schuldenbergfilms.com
kristof@schuldenbergfilm.com
Kristof Gerega

Kristof Gerega - born in 1981. Filmmaker, author, producer and actor. After his degree in drama at the Bern University of the Arts he worked in film, TV and theatre. In his work he focuses especially on documentary forms and their possibilities within transdisciplinarity.