Film Archive

Media Name: b5e4fbaa-a3d0-4389-8a75-8a8ccea6252e.jpg

among us women

Unter uns Frauen
Sarah Noa Bozenhardt, Daniel Abate Tilahun
International Competition 2021
Documentary Film
Ethiopia,
Germany
2021
92 minutes
Amharic,
English
Subtitles: 
English

In rural Ethiopia the staff of a health centre are fighting maternal mortality. They tirelessly appeal to women to give birth in the clinic. But reservations are strong, and so are the practical obstacles. How are heavily pregnant women supposed to arrive in time when the ambulance comes hours later or not at all? Against medical advice, Hulu Ager decides to give birth at home, assisted by a traditional midwife.

With palpable familiarity, the film crew captures moments of intimate communion between Hulu Ager, the midwives and other women. On the margins of the central conflict, the many challenges they face in a patriarchal society emerge. The debates are most lively under the hood dryer at the hairdresser’s: She doesn’t enjoy sex because of her circumcision, the medical professional Welela reports. “Sometimes you have to prepare yourself for sex,” another customer advises. Sometimes it helps to get drunk. But the perky hairdresser is sure: Bad sex is grounds for divorce. The women share their desires and woes with each other, experience solidarity and gather courage for small and great acts of departure and resistance. Men are relegated to the role of extras, if at all.
Sarina Lacaf

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Sarah Noa Bozenhardt, Daniel Abate Tilahun
Script
Sarah Noa Bozenhardt
Cinematographer
Bernarda Cornejo Pinto
Editor
Andrea Munoz
Producer
Sonja Kilbertus
Co-Producer
Hiwot Admasu, Beza Hailu Lemma
Sound
Alex Praet
Score
Anna-Marlene Bicking
Winner of: Honourable Mendtion (International Competition)
Media Name: 3ba06c00-5868-4888-8ae9-f424a56ef0bd.jpg

Republic of Silence

Republic of Silence
Diana El Jeiroudi
International Competition 2021
Documentary Film
France,
Germany,
Italy,
Qatar,
Syria
2021
183 minutes
Arabic,
English,
German,
Kurdish
Subtitles: 
English

Silence reigns in the Berlin flat, but the film, whose complex montage encompasses the disintegration of Syria and life in exile, leaves no doubt that things are different in director Diana El Jeiroudi’s mind. Archival footage, loose portraits of confidants and an intimate perspective that explores her own position and her way of coping with trauma add up to a multi-layered document.

“Evil has a very loud and terrifying sound,” El Jeiroudi already noted as a child. Growing up in a country marked by surveillance and military parades has left its mark. In “Republic of Silence”, she looks for a way to come to terms with it, condensing old material, some of which shot in Syria, with a written monologue and stories of persons who also chose exile in the course of the civil war. The result is a complex filmic space that reveals the political and social disintegration of a nation. El Jeiroudi increasingly concentrates on showing a present outside Syria, life in emigration. Passing her husband's  nocturnal teeth grinding, birthday parties and disruptions in the international film festival scene, a life between tension and new beginnings becomes apparent.
Carolin Weidner

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Diana El Jeiroudi
Script
Diana El Jeiroudi
Cinematographer
Sebastian Bäumler, Diana El Jeiroudi, Orwa Nyrabia, Guevara Namer
Editor
Katja Dringenberg, Diana El Jeiroudi
Producer
Orwa Nyrabia, Diana El Jeiroudi
Co-Producer
Camille Laemlé
Sound
Raphaël Girardot, Nathalie Vidal, Pascal Capitolin
Winner of: Goethe-Institut Documentary Film Prize, Honourable Mendtion (International Competition)