Ossa Film | Andreas Hartmann

Germany, Japan 2024, 86 min
by Andreas Hartmann, Arata Mori

Every year, thousands of people vanish without a trace in Japan. Known as the Johatsu, or 'the evaporated,' they abandon their lives for various reasons, a troublesome relationship, mounting debts or threats from the mafia. Some get support from so-called 'night moving' companies, which help people to disappear and start a new life somewhere else. Taking an intimate look at the phenomenon of 'evaporating people,' JOHATSU – INTO THIN AIR depicts the inner conflicts and attempts at reconciliation of those who have disappeared and those who have been left behind.

Germany 2017, 75 min
by Andreas Hartmann

22-year-old Kei refuses to conform to Japan’s performance-oriented society. He lives as a ‘Jiyujin,’ a free man, on the streets and under the bridges of Kyoto. Kei dropped out of university and quit the military against the will of his family, trading in the safety of his parents' home for an unknown future as a homeless person. His Discman and his collection of classical music are his only steady company. Kei’s love for music and nature keeps him afloat in his dream world. However, when the money he earned in the military runs out, he has to face the harsh realities of the life of a badly-paid day laborer at an excavation site.

2015, 68 min
by Andreas Hartmann

Kyaw Kyaw, a 25-year-old Burmese punk, pursues the dream of seeing the punk scene take off in Myanmar.The former military dictatorship carried out a few democratic reforms, but he remains sceptical: In his opinion, the country hasn’t changed yet. Along with the members of his punk band, he tries to raise the awareness of his people about the persistent violation of human rights. By way of his music and the demonstrations in the streets, he criticizes the ongoing civil war and the persecutions of ethnic minorities. He travels across the country to promote his own philosophy among the young generations: A symbiosis of Buddhism and punk that rejects religious dictatesand political doctrine.

Japan, Germany 2021, 65 min
by Arata Mori

Emilione, a million lies – so people nicknamed Marco Polo. They doubted his astonishing journey to the east. “A Million” depicts an imaginary city on the real urban cities along the new silk road – revived by the Chinese initiative’s alternative globalization – through the eyes of a filmmaker from the east. The modern adaptation of Italo Calvino’s “Invisible Cities” confronts a fabricated, materialistic world in political transformation and wanders over the boundary between truth and fake.