Jointly organised by MARUPAKKAM and Goethe Institut Chennai
International Films
Valentina (Dir:Maximilian Feldmanna; 51 min; Germany; Documentary)
A slum in a Romani neighbourhood. Ten-year-old Valentina invites us to meet her family. What follows are bizarre anecdotes, daydreams and documentary observations – a film as lively as its roaming heroine.
Where the Grass Grows the Highest (Dir: Phillip Hallay; 51 min; Manoglia; Documentary)
Begzuren lives in the ger district of Ulan Bator, Mongolia. Due to a lack of space, survival is very difficult. Still tourists from all over the world come into his modest ger to exchange life experiences. Dalai’s lives in Bayangol Sum, a two hours drive from Ulan Bator. Instead of living in a chaotic metropolis, he enjoys the vastness of the veldt. His son, destined to inherit his father’s nomadic tradition, is secretly dreaming of Ulan Bator.
Mostly Waiting (Dir: Thandi Sebe & Tim Foresta; 30 min; South Africa; Documentary)
Cape Town. Three men from Zimbabwe who came to South Africa in search of work and a better life, now spend their days on the side of a street, hoping for a job. An intimate look at what it is like to be a homeless refugee living on the streets of an afrophobic country and the dreams that the men have for their futures.
Long Distance (Dir: Daniel Andreas Sager; 93 min; Somalia; Documentary)
A farmer woman from Kenya and a shepherd boy want to run their way out of poverty. Their hope is to be able to join highly paid marathons in Europe with the help of a German athletics manager. A journey into presumed luck unexpectedly leads to the limits of human capacity. How much can hope make you endure pain in the fight against your own body? A thickly woven network of dependencies emerges, in which there is no decision free of consequences for another.
The Children Send their Regards
(Dir: Patricia Josefine Marchart; 104 min; Germany; Documentary)
Their names are George, Inge, Jo, Sepp, Paula, Walo, Anita, Klaus and Klaus. They were acolytes, pupils, wards and foster home children, who were sexually, emotionally and physically abused by members of the clergy. Accompanied by the camera, the victims visit the locations of the crimes from back then. Many are making their stories public for the first time.
Their families are also only finding out about this hidden pain for the first time. A nightmarish insight into arguably the greatest crime of the post-war period. Yet abuse remains a trauma throughout society, made possible by an environment of repression and of piety. Today, the Church and the state are allies in this cover-up. An accusation that will make you speechless, but also gives hope: “I have said everything, I am no longer a victim“, says Jo, one of the protagonists of the film.
Das Haus Neben Den Gleisen (Dir Nora Fingscheidt, Simone Catharina Gual; 66 min; Germany; Documentary)
The women's shelter in Stuttgart: 50 rooms, 50 residents, 50 destinies - and in the background the rattle of the trains. Sylvia wants to get out of the shelter and back to her own apartment. Carola loves the place like her home, especially her view from the window. Gabi has come to terms with the situation and has started to make art. All women have one thing in common: at one point in their lives they were without a roof over their heads and ended up in a shelter. Encounters with special women in a special place.
