The RK12 galaxy is twenty-eight billion kilometres away from earth and contains a sandy desert planet inhabited by an extraterrestrial species. Without sunlight, these creatures live off the energy of movement itself. They produce time, love music and push their mortal gods back into space when they are tired of them. A fictitious reportage that showcases Piotr Kamler’s extraordinary skill. In addition to a feature-length sci-fi film, the Polish avant-garde film artist created a number of original and technically outstanding short films. “Green Planet” is a masterful stop motion animation in which Kamler brings delicate shapes made of fine sand to life. Carefully directed lighting, contrasts and focus create a fantastical world whose spatial depth is impressive. The music by Ivo Malec, a pioneer of electro-acoustic and New Music, reinforces the otherworldly atmosphere of the distant setting.

Franka Sachse

“How long have you known each other?” – “Six funerals.” Having grown old as a gay man is a privilege in the wake of the Aids crisis. At “Lebensort Vielfalt”, a Berlin housing project for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersexual persons, lived experiences are exchanged among three generations. They used to be pigeonholed, today children might just be allowed to learn to speak before they define themselves. A wild kind of growing up and ageing. All residents share the desire to be safe, even from having-to-explain-themselves. The camera roams the house, crosses the corridor, moves from one balcony to another, looks out of the window onto the street, develops new perspectives. Social backsliding is registered; sometimes new happiness is found. On deceased persons’ birthdays, the raspberry cake is cut. Falling asleep, the sound of riot rises again.

Jan Künemund

A bizarre still life. Everyday objects lie carefully lined-up around a bed: scissors, keys, audio cassettes. A dead fish on a plate is surrounded by lemons and tomatoes. A young man lies listlessly on the bed – he does not stir even when the telephone rings and the answering machine clicks on. A rigorously choreographed scenery meets the real voice of a father. He seems needy, absurdly asking for anchovies. Suddenly, the son’s body is wrapped in a bubbling bag, only the feet sticking out, a tube supplying water. The father fancies some Roquefort cheese, but the real thing. Personal overload and powerlessness take on an original shape here – and that is far from all.

Anke Leweke

In a large-scale operation, a group of homeless families occupy some wasteland on the outskirts of Santiago in March 1967. When the police attempt to evict them, a little girl, Herminda, dies in her mother’s arms. The eviction is called off, the people are allowed to stay and, without any existing infrastructure, build the settlement that exists to this day: Herminda de la Victoria. “Full of errors and mistakes, [the film] is my first approach to cinema, albeit to a ‘new cinema’, a Latin American cinema marked by underdevelopment. Nonetheless, the cinematic process, editing and sound represent a fully valid experience to me. ‘Herminda de la Victoria’ champions the interests of the homeless in Chile, suffers with them, is both testimony and a ‘document’ that forces you to take sides.” (Douglas Hübner)

Florian Wüst

The mother’s film archive raises questions. What did she see in the many doll’s faces staring at us through her camera? Why so many shots of flowers? When she herself is in the picture, she is always moving. Was she trying to get away from something? The narrator wants to find their own motifs. But where? It is easy for the mother to say: Film your own reality! Sounds great, but how, when you feel that you are different? As the material is questioned, more and more own images find their way into the film. Integrating themselves. Perhaps they ask the same questions of the world.

Jan Künemund

Documentary films for children rarely venture to this place: prison. Four kids in Belgium take us there. They show us the way from the entrance to the visiting area, where they visit their mother or father, usually twice a week. Prisons are definitely not designed for children and yet there are many who regularly enter them. In Belgium alone, more than 16,000 children have a parent behind bars. This film gives a voice to children of prison inmates who tell us how they cope with a situation they did not choose.

Lina Dinkla