On New Year's Eve 2023, Thomas Heise begins to shoot his new film. It is to be called “Übergang”. His idea: A film in the “Heimatfilm” tradition revolving around Berlin’s Schönhauser Allee, where he has lived for decades. The author is to be a character in the film. A few months later, Heise falls seriously ill and dies. The small team continues to work on the film, unearthing unpublished texts and images from Heise’s estate and archives. “Images are […] encompassing”, Heiner Müller is quoted, but dreams curdle quickly. As soon as the personal story becomes a false image, it is gently but persistently put into perspective. A touching email exchange Heise had with a female high-school graduate in Karlsruhe who is searching for truth contains a whole primer for documentary filmmaking: “See what you would not otherwise see. Stay patient. […] Never expect financial security. Be happy about that. Because it won’t change.” Peter Badel and Chris Wright have not produced a hermetic artist tribute, but have, utterly in the spirit of Heise, pieced together fragments of lived history.

Jan Künemund

Alba Zari was born in Bangkok inside what was said to be “a hippie community” that her grandmother, Rosa, and her mother, Ivana, had joined. But she doesn’t recall much of her childhood. Longing for answers, Alba delves into the painful work of remembering: trying to understand her grandmother’s decision to join the Children of God sect, the far‑reaching consequences of her mother’s indoctrination, and her father’s identity. In conversations and everyday moments with her grandmother and mother, Alba learns more about the cult, the ‘Flirty Fishing’ practice, and widespread sexual and psychological abuse of its members, including children. The traces of pain are still tangible years later, showing in Alba’s tears rushing out before words, in the trembling of hands, and in her mother’s constant over-apologising. Alba “lives the questions”, hoping to find answers; however, as the journey unfurls, she realises it may not be about answers but about accepting absence as a constant presence, and not being defined by it. A film about family wounds, memory, and the resilience of ties that bind us.

Sevara Pan