A Tiger with No Stripes
Raúl “Robin” Morales Reyes
A tiger without stripes? Can the animal that terrifies the other inhabitants of the jungle be a real tiger at all?
A
Film Archive
A Tiger with No Stripes
Animated Film
France,
Switzerland
2018
8 minutes
subtitles:
_without dialogue / subtitles
A tiger without stripes? Can the animal that terrifies the other inhabitants of the jungle be a real tiger at all? To stop being laughed at the little tiger goes in search of his stripes. He discovers them as shadows on his fur, paints them on with mud, but nothing lasts. How else can he get his stripes?
Marie-Thérèse Antony
Marie-Thérèse Antony
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
Average Happiness
Maja Gehrig
Statistics charts break out of their corset of illustration, take on a life of their own and embark on a sensual and orgiastic journey through brightly coloured landscapes.
Average Happiness
Animated Film
Switzerland
2019
7 minutes
subtitles:
English
What starts with a factual Power Point presentation of a data survey about life satisfaction in Europe soon turns into a truly sensual journey. Diagrams break out of their x- and y-axes. Colourful columns, circles and lines become actors in infographic landscapes, behaving more and more euphorically: Age pyramids dance, bars merge into figures and rise together to a climax. An orgiastic world of statistics, who would have thought!
Annina Wettstein
Annina Wettstein
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
Bird Island
Maya Kosa, Sergio Da Costa
A bird haven is a miraculous refuge for injured wild birds – and for the protagonist Antonin, who takes up work there after a long illness.
Bird Island
After a long illness and isolation Antonin takes up work in a bird sanctuary. He is still fighting with fatigue, a consequence of his illness. The new colleagues patiently give him time to arrive. In this small cosmos, Antonin gets as much protection as the patients. Some of the wild birds are delivered with serious injuries, some are in shock. They need the absolute dedication of the veterinarian and the nurse – and get it. None of them are unfazed by the loud roaring of the nearby airport.
Antonin reports about the station as an off screen narrator in diary-like entries. In literary language he explains work processes and describes the fates of the swans, eagle owls or crows. The interactions within the team and the treatment of the animals are also shown, in a minimalist way. The film oscillates between stylised artificiality and documentary observation. The warm-hearted story of this wondrous place gently evolves into a fable about rescuing animals – and humans – in need.
Annina Wettstein
Awarded with the Healthy Workplaces Fim Award.
Antonin reports about the station as an off screen narrator in diary-like entries. In literary language he explains work processes and describes the fates of the swans, eagle owls or crows. The interactions within the team and the treatment of the animals are also shown, in a minimalist way. The film oscillates between stylised artificiality and documentary observation. The warm-hearted story of this wondrous place gently evolves into a fable about rescuing animals – and humans – in need.
Annina Wettstein
Awarded with the Healthy Workplaces Fim Award.
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
Birds of Paradise
Aline Suter, Céline Carridroit
Many have perished from the deadly virus. But sometimes there is a life after life with death. Then a new vision becomes possible: of all the life surrounding us.
Birds of Paradise
Documentary Film
Switzerland
2019
15 minutes
subtitles:
English
The photos were taken at a time when a deadly virus was raging. It would have destroyed a family by a hair’s breadth before it even became one. The hand holding the photos and the voice talking about them bear witness to the fact that there sometimes is a life after life with death. Which, again sometimes, makes a new vision possible: not just of one’s own life, but of all living things around us.
Lukas Foerster
Lukas Foerster
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
Das Fieber
Katharina Weingartner
Africa is still ruled by malaria. A thriller about the larger connections between the parasite and the pharmaceutics industry, claims of heteronomy and the richest man on earth.
Das Fieber
The fight won’t end. Malaria still rules large parts of Africa. Every 60 seconds a child south of the Sahara dies of the disease. All in all, it causes around half a million deaths per year. But why is it so impossible to successfully conquer the disease, even though countless relief organisations have been working on a solution for many years?
The reason, of course, is money, global conflicts of interest, the powerful pharmaceutical industry. That’s nothing new. But the Austrian filmmaker Katharina Weingartner produced an enthralling documentary thriller which literally inscribes exciting, context-shifting and -widening lines of connection into the more or less familiar general picture: connections between the parasite and the pharmaceutical industry, between self-determination in East Africa and the richest man in the world. The focus is on three courageous people in Uganda and Kenya who are fighting the disease on the spot and are often more successful with alternative methods than Western medicine is comfortable with. Because after all a solution of their own, without foreign help and technology, without the mercantile and public philanthropic interests of the helpers, would mean independence.
Julia Weigl
The reason, of course, is money, global conflicts of interest, the powerful pharmaceutical industry. That’s nothing new. But the Austrian filmmaker Katharina Weingartner produced an enthralling documentary thriller which literally inscribes exciting, context-shifting and -widening lines of connection into the more or less familiar general picture: connections between the parasite and the pharmaceutical industry, between self-determination in East Africa and the richest man in the world. The focus is on three courageous people in Uganda and Kenya who are fighting the disease on the spot and are often more successful with alternative methods than Western medicine is comfortable with. Because after all a solution of their own, without foreign help and technology, without the mercantile and public philanthropic interests of the helpers, would mean independence.
Julia Weigl
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
Das Forum
Marcus Vetter
A portrait of the World Economic Forum, a controversial institution whose founder, Klaus Schwab, considers himself a philanthropist. Masterfully balanced between hagiography and deconstruction.
Das Forum
Documentary Film
Germany,
Switzerland
2019
116 minutes
subtitles:
English
German
Credits
Christian Beetz, Georg Tschurtschenthaler, Karin Koch, Marcus Vetter
Marcus Vetter
Marcel Vaid
Georg Zengerling
Marcus Vetter, Ana Fernandez Rocha, Michele Gentile
Christian Beetz
Melanie Westphal, Dieter Meyer, Marco Teufen, Jonathan Schorr, Marcus Vetter
Every year in January, the Swiss village of Davos provides the backdrop for the World Economic Forum (WEF). This conference is a meeting of the global economic and political elites. It’s true, the public debates and press conferences have been streamed on the WEF website for a while now, in the spirit of a transparent, albeit suspiciously semi-official, audiovisual protocol – but never in the now 49 years of the WEF’s history was an independent filmmaker allowed any insight into the machinery of the event or behind the facades of the institution.
Over a period of three years, director Marcus Vetter observed the workings of this machinery. He cast a few but highly concentrated looks at the history of the Forum, founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, and now very confidently combines individual biographies, historical moments, logical connections and matters flitting about at the periphery to form the complex picture of a global fabric. Klaus Schwab, 79 today, is pleased with the fabric metaphor, since he himself has repeatedly said that the threads of the world may be coming together at “his” WEF, but that its knots acquire meaning and purpose only when the threads are later redistributed responsibly. This film is about no less than those threads and thus the meaning and purpose of the WEF.
Ralph Eue
Over a period of three years, director Marcus Vetter observed the workings of this machinery. He cast a few but highly concentrated looks at the history of the Forum, founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, and now very confidently combines individual biographies, historical moments, logical connections and matters flitting about at the periphery to form the complex picture of a global fabric. Klaus Schwab, 79 today, is pleased with the fabric metaphor, since he himself has repeatedly said that the threads of the world may be coming together at “his” WEF, but that its knots acquire meaning and purpose only when the threads are later redistributed responsibly. This film is about no less than those threads and thus the meaning and purpose of the WEF.
Ralph Eue
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
HanaHana Full Bloom
Mélodie Mousset
Odd shapes stand in a desert landscape. At the push of a button, countless hands sprout from the ground. Hands, hands everywhere.
HanaHana Full Bloom
Credits
Mélodie Mousset
Mélodie Mousset
Joe Williams
Christian Heinrichs
Vinicius P. Faria
Thibault Brevet
Mélodie Mousset
Victor Beaupuy, Tom Frackowiak
Jean-Marc Benoit
Marietta Eugster
Odd shapes stand in a desert landscape. At the push of a button, countless hands sprout from the ground. Hands, hands everywhere. Modelled on the Anime character Nico Robin who can make body parts grow anywhere at will, we are asked to contribute our own narratives and physical, intellectual and sensual impressions to this desert. The result is satisfying, in a surprising way.
Lars Rummel, Marie Hinkelmann
Lars Rummel, Marie Hinkelmann
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
Home Sweet Home
Chaïtane Conversat
Grandmother’s house is full of treasures! Every visit reveals new things to discover and she loves to talk about the adventures she had in search of the shells, buttons and leaves.
Home Sweet Home
Credits
Reginald de Guillebon, Florence Adam
Chaïtane Conversat
Patricia Dallio
Nadine Buss, Sara Sponga
Hervé Guichard
Pierre-Luc Granjon, Antoine Lanciaux, Chaïtane Conversat, Marjolaine Parot
Chaïtane Conversat, Pierre-Luc Granjon
Loïc Burkhardt
Grandmother’s house is full of treasures! Every visit reveals new things to discover and she loves to talk about the adventures she had in search of the shells, buttons and leaves. But with every visit there are more crates in the house so that it becomes harder and harder to find grandmother at all. One day she disappears behind her crates. Will her granddaughter manage to free her?
Marie-Thérèse Antony
Marie-Thérèse Antony
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
My English Cousin
Karim Sayad
Full of hope, Fahed arrived in England from Algeria in 2001. But his dreams of prosperity have evaporated. Today he is in a midlife crisis and no longer knows where his home is.
My English Cousin
Documentary Film
Qatar,
Switzerland
2019
82 minutes
subtitles:
English
German
Credits
Joëlle Bertossa, Flavia Zanon
Karim Sayad
Patrick Tresch
Naïma Bachiri
Miguel Antunes Dias
Fahed wants to change his life. It’s been almost twenty years that he left Algeria. At the time he was full of hope when he arrived at the British seaport of Grimsby, which was long past its heyday. His dream of prosperity evaporated. In order to survive financially he works two jobs in a 50 hour week. It’s true that he now has a residence permit and leads a well-integrated life in a workers’ flat share, but now, at middle age, he longs to go back to his Algerian home, in order to be closer to his mother. And he has marriage plans! But will Fahed manage to settle back in there and find his role after such a long absence? His family don’t quite believe his intentions to return and tease him because his engagement remains a mystery. He has probably gotten too used to the British mentality, an aunt assumes.
So where is Fahed’s home now? Unprejudiced and with an eye for humorous details, Karim Sayad follows his taciturn cousin’s dithering back and forth. A film about personal and not least social turning points, because in the background the two countries England and Algeria are moving towards political upheavals.
Annina Wettstein
So where is Fahed’s home now? Unprejudiced and with an eye for humorous details, Karim Sayad follows his taciturn cousin’s dithering back and forth. A film about personal and not least social turning points, because in the background the two countries England and Algeria are moving towards political upheavals.
Annina Wettstein
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
Our Lucky Hours
Martine Deyres
A compilation of archive material from the Saint-Alban Hospital in France, where doctors and nurses tested a pioneering new way of dealing with mentally ill patients even before 1945.
Our Lucky Hours
Documentary Film
Belgium,
France,
Switzerland
2019
77 minutes
subtitles:
English
Credits
Alexandre Cornu
Martine Deyres
Olivier Brisson, Nicola Marinoni
Jean-Christophe Beauvallet, Dino Berguglia, Antoine-Marie Meert
Philippe Boucq, Catherine Catella, Martine Deyeres
Martine Deyeres, Anne Paschetta
Olivier Hespel, Marianne Roussy, Olivier Schwob
Between 1939 and 1945, 45,000 patients died in French mental institutions. There was only one place where the patients survived the euthanasia: the hospital in the remote village of Saint-Alban. In addition, the doctors, nursing staff and patients there worked with the residents of the village to hide a number of war refugees, resistance fighters and persecuted Jews and thus save them from certain death.
What made Saint-Alban so exceptional? During her research, director Martine Deyres found photos, home movies and sound recordings in the hospital archives. She uses this material to draw the portrait of an institution that was far ahead of its time. The patients were respected, integrated and individually supported. By working in the household or on the fields, they also contributed, especially during the war, to the fact that no one in Saint-Alban had to go hungry. There was a patient newspaper and various arts and crafts classes. Auguste Forestier’s wooden sculptures even became famous as “art brut”, when the painter Jean Dubuffet discovered the works of the Saint-Alban patient after the war. All this coalesces into a rousing plea for a respectful treatment of the mentally ill, which is more important than ever in an age of economic constrictions and strong normative tendencies.
Luc-Carolin Ziemann
What made Saint-Alban so exceptional? During her research, director Martine Deyres found photos, home movies and sound recordings in the hospital archives. She uses this material to draw the portrait of an institution that was far ahead of its time. The patients were respected, integrated and individually supported. By working in the household or on the fields, they also contributed, especially during the war, to the fact that no one in Saint-Alban had to go hungry. There was a patient newspaper and various arts and crafts classes. Auguste Forestier’s wooden sculptures even became famous as “art brut”, when the painter Jean Dubuffet discovered the works of the Saint-Alban patient after the war. All this coalesces into a rousing plea for a respectful treatment of the mentally ill, which is more important than ever in an age of economic constrictions and strong normative tendencies.
Luc-Carolin Ziemann
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
Taste of Hope
Laura Coppens
The French Fralib tea factory was expected to go under in corporate skirmishes. Then the staff took over. Now cooperative tea is flowing, yet less and less money. But resistance tastes sweet.
Taste of Hope
Documentary Film
Germany,
Switzerland
2019
71 minutes
subtitles:
English
German
A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of cooperative economy. It spreads fear because it gives the small cogs in the giant economic wheel the power of decision over the sense, purpose and speed of the whole machinery. It is one of the last great emancipation projects: liberation from the frustration of knowing that your destiny lies in the not always skilful hands of strangers. The cooperative tea refinery Scop-TI in Gémenos in southern France, founded in 2016, was created by such an act of liberation: For 1,336 days, the employees occupied the production facilities of the Fralib tea factory to extort a new start under their own management from their “employer” global corporation.
What precisely this management looks like and whether it is capable of translating the revolutionary spirit of machine kidnapping into a working production routine that secures everyone’s livelihood is the basic question of Laura Coppens’ film, which turns it into a kind of statement of accounts – about income and spending, insights and exertions. She sends us on an assembly line through the cooperative daily working routine which requires more maintenance than some people expected. A portrait of Che Guevara is hanging in the manager’s office; a credit application is pending at the bank. The fight continues.
Sylvia Görke
What precisely this management looks like and whether it is capable of translating the revolutionary spirit of machine kidnapping into a working production routine that secures everyone’s livelihood is the basic question of Laura Coppens’ film, which turns it into a kind of statement of accounts – about income and spending, insights and exertions. She sends us on an assembly line through the cooperative daily working routine which requires more maintenance than some people expected. A portrait of Che Guevara is hanging in the manager’s office; a credit application is pending at the bank. The fight continues.
Sylvia Görke
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
The Last Day of Autumn
Marjolaine Perreten
The chains are oiled, tyre pressure checked and helmets fastened. And here’s the start signal for the last bicycle race of autumn for the hedgehog, the turtle and the rabbit family.
The Last Day of Autumn
Animated Film
France,
Switzerland
2019
7 minutes
subtitles:
_without dialogue / subtitles
The chains are oiled, tyre pressure checked and helmets fastened. And here’s the start signal for the last bicycle race of autumn for the hedgehog, the turtle and the rabbit family. The course takes the forest-dwellers over hill and dale, over mountains and through valleys. Will they all make it to the finishing line before the icy wind of winter catches up with them? They will have to pedal hard!
Marie-Thérèse Antony
Marie-Thérèse Antony
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
Under the Skin
Robin Harsch
Three transgender teenagers take the long path of physical transformation to finally arrive at their perceived gender identity, supported by parents and counsellors.
Under the Skin
Three transgender teenagers undergo radical physical changes caused by hormone therapy and surgery: This is the external metamorphosis that finally brings their appearance into line with their long-felt gender identity. Behind them lie desperate years in which they had to struggle not only with themselves but also with their family and school environments. This continuous experience of rejection and harassment has made them vulnerable. They long for the day when they don’t have to explain themselves all the time.
The curious and frank questions of the director, who is also the cinematographer, produce a very intimate relationship between him and those he films. What becomes clear is how difficult, complicated and all-encompassing the path of transformation is not only for the teenagers but also for their parents. What does it mean to a mother when her child, born as a girl, becomes a boy? A counselling centre supports the teenagers and their families in everything, helps them with psychological and legal issues, accompanies them to talks with teachers and medical professionals. This support is essential to give everyone concerned some orientation. And it enables the adolescents to finally arrive in their bodies, their selves.
Annina Wettstein
The curious and frank questions of the director, who is also the cinematographer, produce a very intimate relationship between him and those he films. What becomes clear is how difficult, complicated and all-encompassing the path of transformation is not only for the teenagers but also for their parents. What does it mean to a mother when her child, born as a girl, becomes a boy? A counselling centre supports the teenagers and their families in everything, helps them with psychological and legal issues, accompanies them to talks with teachers and medical professionals. This support is essential to give everyone concerned some orientation. And it enables the adolescents to finally arrive in their bodies, their selves.
Annina Wettstein
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
Warum Schnecken keine Beine haben
Aline Höchli
Snails go to the office, but a dip in the capital curve calls for radical measures. A tragicomedy about the economic factor in biological evolution.
Warum Schnecken keine Beine haben
Animated Film
Switzerland
2019
11 minutes
subtitles:
_without dialogue / subtitles
Aline Höchli’s drawn animation seems colourful, groovy and light-footed at first. Snails go to the office. The creative, sociable, but slow colleagues are tolerated in that busy-bee working world. But a dip in the capital curve calls for radical measures. At the end the work-life balance is once more righted, albeit with a surprising distribution. A tragicomedy about the economic factor in biological evolution.
André Eckardt
André Eckardt
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
Where We Belong
Jacqueline Zünd
Analytically and eloquently, five children of separated couples talk about the questions and gaps left by their parents. It’s up to them and us to decide what normality means.
Where We Belong
Documentary Film
Switzerland
2019
78 minutes
subtitles:
English
German
Parents separate, the children are left with questions and gaps: Dad cheated on Mom, so she threw him out. But didn’t Mom cheat on Dad, too? Life now happens between two homes, between two worlds. After an argument, the mother leaves for a “holiday” that is still going on a year later. It’s never mentioned. Brother and sister end up in a home after they tried to leave their mother. Their father had badmouthed her to them again and again. Taking the children, though, doesn’t cross his mind.
Coping with such experiences makes you grow up early. Surprisingly analytically and eloquently, five children of separated parents talk about their stories, only to turn back into children the next moment. With atmospheric images, sometimes impressionist and experimental, sometimes perfectly lighted like the stars on the big screen they become for a short while, the director manages to transcend the everyday life her protagonists talk about: By now, they probably know where they belong better than all the adults around them. It’s up to them and us to find out what normality means. Best to do it all on their own.
Frederik Lang
Awarded with the Young Eyes Film Award.
Coping with such experiences makes you grow up early. Surprisingly analytically and eloquently, five children of separated parents talk about their stories, only to turn back into children the next moment. With atmospheric images, sometimes impressionist and experimental, sometimes perfectly lighted like the stars on the big screen they become for a short while, the director manages to transcend the everyday life her protagonists talk about: By now, they probably know where they belong better than all the adults around them. It’s up to them and us to find out what normality means. Best to do it all on their own.
Frederik Lang
Awarded with the Young Eyes Film Award.
The annotations to the films in the Official Selection were written by the members of the selection committee and guest authors. All quotes from DOK Leipzig catalogue articles must be identified as such and cite the author’s name. Some original titles and names have been transcribed resp. transliterated. We apologise that we cannot cite individual image sources and rights in our festival publications or festival coverage. Please note that the visual material is published exclusively for the purposes of promoting specific films or festival programmes. No transmission to third parties is provided and would only take place with the explicit agreement of the owners of the rights. The rights to the images lie with the respective copyright owners.
#Female Pleasure
Barbara Miller
Misogyny is structurally inscribed in the cultural cores of all social systems in the world. “#Female Pleasure” exposes these cores, lucidly and from a global perspective.
#Female Pleasure
Documentary Film
Germany,
Switzerland
2018
97 minutes
subtitles:
German
Women are subordinate to men. They are born sinful and have no legal claim to their own body. Misogyny is more than a phenomenon observed across continental divides all over the world and in some cases the cause of abuse and crime. It is structurally inscribed – literally – into the core of all social systems founded on religious beliefs. In the bible, for example, we read: “I find woman more bitter than Death […] The man who is pleasing to God eludes her.”
In this lucid film, which takes a global perspective, five female protagonists talk about misogynistic behaviour they experienced, hostilities they were exposed to, crimes committed against them. Rokudenashiko, a Japanese artist, is on trial for the obscenity of her art. Deborah Feldman escaped with her son from a Hassidic community in Brooklyn, leaving her husband to whom she was forcibly married. Leyla Hussein, Doris Wagner and Vithika Yadav talk about rape and mutilation, lack of legal protection, homophobia, shame and the strange feeling that one’s sexuality and body are associated with sin from birth.
Lukas Stern
Awarded with the Special Prize of the Interreligious Jury
In this lucid film, which takes a global perspective, five female protagonists talk about misogynistic behaviour they experienced, hostilities they were exposed to, crimes committed against them. Rokudenashiko, a Japanese artist, is on trial for the obscenity of her art. Deborah Feldman escaped with her son from a Hassidic community in Brooklyn, leaving her husband to whom she was forcibly married. Leyla Hussein, Doris Wagner and Vithika Yadav talk about rape and mutilation, lack of legal protection, homophobia, shame and the strange feeling that one’s sexuality and body are associated with sin from birth.
Lukas Stern
Awarded with the Special Prize of the Interreligious Jury
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