Section: POLSKIE HORYZONTY: The Female Gaze

CHILDREN OF SPRING

CHILDREN OF SPRING

Dušan Solomun
Germany, 2018, 42 Min

A community of fate: a boat full of refugees from Syria, men, women and children, come together on the roof of a Berlin tower-block together with a life raft, life jackets and the absence of a mobile signal, in order to re-enact the most dramatic moments of their escape. As they silently climb the stairway, they draw courage from a well-known children's song.

“We didn't know that our individual fates would end up providing the material for a film.“ For these roughly twenty Syrians the sea of housetops in Berlin comes to represent the ominous waters between Turkey and Greece whilst the viewer comes to feel a close connection with these individuals, as they exchange their experiences of flight, as well as their fears, needs and hopes for the future. Would I be able to swim were the boat to spring a leak? What does he/she who is unable to swim do on a sinking life raft in the middle of the Mediterranean?

In this self-assured work Ahmad Alkurdis guides the viewer through the film, this is his story. Director Dušan Solomun interweaves this experimental re-enactment of Alkurdi's story with the narrator's mobile phone footage, poetic reflections on identity, dignity and humanity as well as a soundtrack, the latter giving greater depth to the film's imagery, even during the moments when the protagonists remain silent. The result is a fascinating yet emotional film, which gives voice to the featured refugees' destinies. RH

Filmformat
DCP | doc. | Farbe / Colour
Drehbuch
Dušan Solomun, Dellair Youssef, Ahmad Alkurdi
Kamera
Tilo Hauke
Ton
Oscar Stiebitz
Schnitt
Jan Bihl
Ausstattung
Jana Donis
Musik
Emre Turkmeen
Darsteller
Ahmad Alkurdi, Yazan Melhem, Dellair Youssef, Myriam Belhaj, Ahmed Roubied
Produzent
Dušan Solomun
Produktion
Dušan Solomun Filmproduktion
Co-Produktion
Ohne Gepäck Filmproduktion
Kontakt
FILM FESTIVAL AGENCY
Markus Kaatsch
aug&ohr medien
Riemannstr. 21
10961 Berlin, Germany
+49 (0)30 61620068
film@augohr.de
www.augohr.de
Dušan Solomun

Dušan Solomun -