Films by André Feldhaus

Germany 2019, 43 min
by Kristine Nrecaj, Birthe Templin

Sixty years ago Bedrie was born as a girl in Albania. Today she lives as a man. She is a sworn virgin. The tradition of sworn virgins started 600 years ago: if there were no sons, one of the daughters had to live as a man, to maintain the family. Some women have chosen this path because they wanted to be free. Bedrie couldn't accept the restrictions of a woman's life. One day she gets a call from the young Adele (26) living in Tirana. Adele is searching for her identity, she wants to live self-determined in patriarchal Albania. Adele hopes to get answers and Bedrie is proud to share.A production of the Filmkantine UG on behalf of the ZDF in cooperation with arte, Commissioning Editor Ann-Christin Hornberger201930 Int. Filmfest Emden Norderney

2019, 90 min
by Rainer Kahrs

An investigation into the German intelligence agency’s involvement in arms exports to war zones around the world.Tanks to Sudan, weapons to Myanmar or Yemen… Secret documents leaked to our film team after years of research prove that the German intelligence agency BND is heavily involved in arms exports to crisis and war zones around the world. The top secret missions are carried out so that they dodge the responsible authorities, and bypasss the War Weapons Control Act and international embargoes. Arms are shipped from a secret port in Ukraine which is not recorded on any map. American satellite images show the port where heavy-lift carriers load tanks, howitzers and other war equipment. Ships from at least two German shipping companies are involved. But the shipping companies are not acting on their own account. Emails from the secret documents show they are in constant contact with the BND, sometimes even operating at its suggestion. We talk to Niels Stolberg, former head of the Beluga shipping company, Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine from 2005-2010, and Mykola Malomuth, his former head of the foreign intelligence agency. Malomuth offers our team, the first camera team ever, exclusive access to the port of Oktyabrsk in Ukraine.

Germany 2013, 88 min
by Stephanie Weimar

Gregor and Stephanie are siblings who couldn’t be more different. She jets across the world, living with women. It’s not even worth her while to rent a flat because she is so committed to being on the road and getting away from the narrow confines of home. Her top priority is self-fulfilment. Her brother Gregor, on the other hand, looks for contemplation, steadiness and a vocation in this world. A monastery, in a nutshell. To understand his choice, Stephanie Weimar takes up the camera and accompanies him from his first instructions to the day he makes his final vows with the Steyler Missionaries in the monastery of St. Augustin. How can a person voluntarily submit to obedience, poverty, and chastity – and do without sex his whole life? Her perplexity and anger at a church that condemns homosexuality in the name of God, bans condoms, and bears part of the blame for Aids drive this film and determine its perspective. We share Gregor's – whose decision is a radical one – doubts and reflections on this road to enlightenment. But it’s the director who learns what real tolerance means. Because the fact is that we are all seekers for meaning. (DOKLeipzig, CorneliaKlauß)