GINGER FOOT FILMS

Germany 2015, 46 min
by Björn Jensen

During the Second World War thousands of women in Asia were forced to work as prostitutes for Japanese soldiers. Some of them were still teenagers. They were raped, often beaten and abused. The Japanese called them 'ianfu' or Comfort Women. After the war the survivors struggled to continue with their lives, hiding what many considered to be a 'shame'. After having been silent for more than 50 years they have started to tell their stories. Until today, they are waiting for an adequate compensation and official acknowledgment of their victimization. They are in their Eighties and Nineties now and time is running out for them. This intimate, touching film tells the story of nine Comfort Women in the Philippines and follows their efforts to find justice before they die.

Germany 2009, 15 min
by Michael Hermann

Short documentary on the art and philosophy of puppet playing. The film follows German director Matthias Bundschuh while working on his extraordinary marionette film "Where is who I was and am" based on a story by famous author Franz Werfel.

Germany 2007
by Alix Francois Meier

Kangiqsujuaq is a small village in Ungava Bay in Canadas arctic north. When the ocean retracts during lowtide it leaves hundreds of caves under the pack ice. It is here that the Inutit will find mussels, which used to be an important source of food during the long arctic winters. To collect them, one has to dig a hole 9 feet deep through the ice. An extremely dangerous venture, as no where else on this planet the tide comes in as fast as here, at 25 miles per hour and the ice is getting increasingly instable due to global warming.Although the people of Kangiqsujuaq live in heated houses today, buy food in the supermarket and watch TV, hunting and fishing are still important to them. But the young generation increasingly looses interest in the old ways. We will meet 70 year old Lucassie and his family. Lucassi is worried how long it will still be possible to pass on the old Inuit wisdom and traditions to the younger generation. It is not only the climate change, but also the influences of modern life that changes the lives of the people in Ungava Bay.

Germany 2013, 87 min
by Michael Teutsch

Café Ta'amon, King-George-Street, Jerusalem Golda Meir drank coffee here and so did Shimon Peres. The Ta'amon is one of the oldest cafés in Jerusalem and it is world famous. It has been a meeting place for radical Leftist-political-activists, artists, politicians and the literati. Israel and its political development have been fervidly debated here – in the past as well as today. The café is history in a microcosm. Established in 1936, a Jewish family took it over again in the 60s. Together with Hamis, a Muslim, they cater for their guests day after day. The director precisely documents their everyday life. He shows the bistro, its owners and customers. He moves away from them to investigate stories and comes back again – to Ta'amon. A record of contemporary history.

Germany 2013, 92 min
by Klaus Dexel

One of the most mysterious assassinations of the Cold War happened on Waterloo Bridge in London on September 7th, 1978: Bulgarian writer and journalist Georgi Markov was poisoned by a stab in the leg presumably through the tip of an umbrella. Markov died four days later of heart failure. In February 2010 the TIME magazine listed the murder of Georgi Markov at number 5 of the "Top 10 Assassination Plots of the World". The victim, Georgi Markov worked as a journalist for the BBC, Deutsche Welle and importantly, for Radio Free Europe where in weekly programs he sharply criticized the totalitarian system in his homeland. After many years of research, the film sheds for the first time light on the background and political connections of the murder and tracks down the Bulgarian Secret Service agent 'Picadilly' who is considered to be involved in the assassination. A thrilling investigative documentary, directed by history doc expert Klaus Dexel and shot on RED Epic.

Germany 2011, 55 min
by Alessandro Melazzini

What is a colonel from the Italian army doing in mountains of Bavaria? He is one of 600,000 Italians that live in Germany. Each of them has a story to tell which no one in Italy knows. Instead, in the Federal Republic, these adopted citizens are considered amongst the best integrated. Four millions Italian emigrants decided to seek their fortune beyond the Alps from the middle of the twentieth century onwards. Many have returned but many have remained. While the flow of migrants North has slowed down in the last few decades, a new form of emigration has recently emerged. Technicians and scientists have found better conditions for study and research across the border. Maybe all of these lives in movement have drained some professionalism from Italy. They have definitely enriched Germany, making it a little more tender and a little more Latin.