Synopsis
In the Saxon village of Arnsdorf, an argument between a supermarket cashier and a Kurdish-Iraqi refugee escalates when four men drag the latter outside and tie him to a tree. The police arrive 25 minutes later. AGAIN reenacts the incident, the subsequent trial and investigates the refugee's ordeal. Ten citizens observe and comment on the case, which highlights the blurred distinction between civil courage and vigilante justice.We would recommend Again/Noch Einmal receive a Special Mention. The film was sophisticated in its structure and ambitious in its realisation. Again was also challenging, taking on a fraught issue preoccupying many communities and countries worldwide, one that is not black and white. In setting up its audiences as active spectators, it eschews simple empathy, rather forcing us to engage with our own ethical and political viewpoints. ( Jury Statement for Special Mention, 14 Doc Edge in Neuseeland9
'His name was Schabas Saleh Al-Aziz. He came from Iraq where his family had remained. He was 21 years old. He suffered from epilepsy and mental disorders and he was found frozen to death in a forest in former East Germany. Some time before his death, he had been the subject of an intense debate when, during a violent incident in a supermarket, he had found himself tied to a tree by four men—heroes to some, self-appointed vigilantes fuelled by racism to others. This is the event that Mario Pfeifer proposes to re-enact in a studio, down to the smallest detail. Applying the codes of the TV talk-show, action films or even legal staging, he lets everyone speak, using film as the means to hold a trial that never took place, since the judge handling the case refused to investigate it. A jury needed to be composed—ten men and women with only one thing in common; they too left their country to settle in Germany. An essential, contemporary film of unrelenting precision.' (Visions du Réel, Céline Guénot)