Synopsis
Mulberry hedges can still be found in a garden allotment in Leipzig today. They were planted for the silk production of the Nazis in the late 1930ies. An educational film about silk culture was also produced in Leipzig at the same time.
The film riven threads follows the traces from the garden allotment and the determination of the silkworms to the touristic island Crete. Where rarely planes were flying, 10.000 paratroopers jumped in only one week onto the barren Island in May 1941. Cretan women, who survived the German occupation, recall their memories of the Battle of Crete and the terror of the German occupation. They cut the silken parachutes and recycled them as handkerchiefs and dresses. The handcraft processes are time units that are inscribed into their bodies and that have structured the memory.
The artistic documentary riven threads follows the way of parachute silk - from the nationalsocialist silk production as a propaganda program to the Battle of Crete in 1941, where parachutes were later reused by handcrafting women for handkerchiefs.
