INDEPENDENCE
Theatrical Release March 14, 2024
Synopsis
The Afro-German actor Helen Wendt explores her family history and her identity between the GDR, Mozambique and West Berlin. In an essayistic approach, the film also follows members of independence movements in Mozambique, South Sudan, Great Britain, Catalonia and Bavaria, asking what it means for people to fight for their freedom. What does independence truly mean and how do colonialism and racism, the causes of many independence movements, define the world to this day?While learning more about Helen's past through encounters with her family in Berlin and in Maputo, the camera embeds within angry protests, portraits emotional reports of politicians, freedom fighters, refugees and ordinary citizens, glides along coastlines and mountains and unites the polyphonic narratives at Black Lives Matter protests in Berlin.
"Independence" takes a multilayered approach, placing individual and political experience on equal footing, combined with sequences of a choreographic installation in which Helen performs – the latter being part of the cross-platform, documentary art project "Fight (for) Independence".
Festivals/Awards
2023Best Documentary – Film Critics' Award – 44 FF Max Ophüls Preis
Best Original Score Documentary for Marcus Thomas – 44 FF Max Ophüls Preis
Achtung Berlin FF
FILMKUSTMESSE LEIPZIG
4 LETsDOK
2024
Black History Month Cologne
Cast and Crew
- Director Felix Meyer-Christian
- Producer Felix Meyer-Christian
- Screenwriter Felix Meyer-Christian, Helen Wendt
- Director of Photography Philine Von Düszeln, Thomas Oswald
- Protagonist Ilona Wendt
- Narrator Helen Wendt
- Editor Stéphanie Morin
- Sound Design Martin Lutz
- Score Marcus Thomas
Original Languages
German
English
Portuguese
Links / Reference
COSTA COMPAGNIE
Berlin / Hamburg
kontakt@costacompagnie.org
www.costacompagnie.org
DISTRIBUTION German speaking countries
Cine Global Filmverleih
mail@cineglobal.de
www.cineglobal.de/independence...
TRAILER
vimeo.com/428809067
www.costacompagnie.org/en/2020...