DER WEITE WEG ZURÜCK
DER WEITE WEG ZURÜCK
Nowhere at home and yet not foreign either. When they left, Almaty was still called Alma Ata. In Kazakhstan they were “the Germans”, in Germany they are “the Russians”. In THE LONG WAY BACK, Maria and Peter Warkentin reflect on the difficulties that came with both emigrating from Kazakhstan and adapting to the new life in Niederstetten, Baden-Württemberg. By combining flashbacks and current experiences, this film not only illustrates their personal challenges, but also sheds light on universal themes of integration and self-discovery in a new country. An honest look at the self-image between Plattdeutsch and Volga German, between acting training in Moscow, the experience of belonging to a minority in Kazakhstan and – then again – in West Germany.
Text: Joshua Jádi
The film will be shown in the original language German without English subtitles.
Ralph Weihermann/Alexej Getmann - Ralph Weihermann was born in Cologne in 1965. After studying theology and history, he began working as a journalist at WDR in Cologne in 1988.As a freelance television reporter, he worked for several German public television stations. From 1994 to the present day, he has produced around two hundred documentaries, reportages and features about Asia, Africa and Latin America, with development cooperation as the main main topic.
Alexej Getmann has a degree in media studies (Diplom) from the University of Cologne and works as a freelance author, journalist and filmmaker. He has worked on numerous documentaries and reports for public television, but has also realised freelance and artistic projects: His debut documentary "Ich bin nicht krank - ich bin schwul" (I'm not sick - I'm gay), about the problems of a homosexual in Kazakhstan, won the audience award at the Homochrom film festival in Cologne in 2015 and the "Special Jury Price Award" at the Central Asian Documentary Film Festival (CADF) in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2018.