Films by Barbara Etz

Germany 2020, 97 min
by Andreas Voigt

The river Oder: A historical and cultural landscape churned again and again by the tide of events of the past century. A tale told in concentric circles about a region which was and still is the scene of the beginning, end and open middle of voluntary and involuntary migrations. Virulent issues of daily life and politics that, asked with confident casualness, provide a robust account of the present.Movements and stories in the border region between Poland and Germany – Andreas Voigt’s new film takes up the themes of his 1992 work “Borderland – A Journey”. The charged term “homeland” stirs up (trouble in) the minds and hearts of the people: What it once was and what has become of it! Sure, that’s not the top priority in their daily agenda. But how people appropriate this term and how that in turn structures their attitudes also determines how they figure out the taste of life in the here and now of Europe. The search for closeness is confronted with the insistence on distance. Communication about belonging becomes flimsy because the body language says something different than the spoken word. As a film that’s not about administering a politically correct separation diet, “Borderland” provokes experiences and enables encounters. (DOK Leipzig, Ralph Eue)

2015, 90 min
by Lars Barthel, Gabriele Denecke, Peter Kahane, Thomas Knauf, Ralf Marschalleck, Hannes Schönemann, Andreas Voigt

Gabriele Denecke, Lars Barthel, Peter Kahane, Thomas Knauf, Ralf Marschalleck, Hannes Schönemann und Andreas Voigt are the directors of this portmonteau (omnibus) film. They look back to their childhood and youth in the late fifties and sixties in the GDR. Some were fellow students at the Filmschool in Babelsberg or they met at work in DEFA Studios.For this film they re-nited once more. They looked through their private archives and recall everyday life in divided Berlin and East Germany. They narrate about family life, their relationship to the West, about fathers, who disappeared behind the wall, their own attempts to adapt to the socialist reality and beliefs, about the strong wish to leave. In a wide range of cinematic styles, they express their memories about friendship and distrust, about youthful pride, juvenile protest, about hope and disappointment, looking for an answer to the question: How was it, when we were the Future?

2004, 88 min
by Andreas Voigt

Millions of people live illegal in Europe under difficult circumstances. They live amongst us. We meet them day by day, but we do not know them, we don´t know anything about them.“INVISIBLE” tells the touching story of five refugees. It tells about what happens to them on their way.Zakari is a former Officer from Algeria. He deserted from the army and lives for nine years without papers in Germany. Malika a Ceczenian woman flew with here family from Russia to Poland. Oumar came from Guinea Bisseau and ended up in a refugee camp in Ceuta. Prince is waiting in a Dutch prison for his deportation back to Nigeria. Edita from Ecuador lives in a transsexual community and seems to be arrived in Paris. INVISIBLE tells about their hopes and dreams and fears.