Films by Benjamin Rost

Germany 2023, 86 min
by Benjamin Rost

Imad, Nourdine, Walid and Hamza live in a stone cave under a lighthouse in Melilla. Every night, the Moroccan teenagers break into the nearby port. There, they try to climb unnoticed onto ships bound for the Spanish mainland. They and dozens of other children have formed their own community under the protection of the rocks. Director Benjamin Rost documents the impressive lives of the young people over a period of five years. The film's title describes the widespread practice of illegal North African immigrants burning their papers, and thus their identities, when apprehended by police. A poignant documentary that offers a glimpse into an unknown world. [19ZFF]

2022, 41 min
by Verena Wagner

Imagine the feeling of being deep in the forest – its vastness, the silence, the damp shade and the dangers that exist purely in the imagination. Can this inimitable feeling be recreated on the big screen? Come and be amazed; take the time to experience something that is as intangible as it is recognisable. A cinematographic mediation on the leitmotif: what is the forest? [37 DOK.fest Munich, Jan Sebening]

2021, 73 min
by Benjamin Rost

The story of the former diamond-diving village of Port Nolloth in South Africa.A desert bordered by a deep cold sea. A torn landscape which hides the purest diamonds on earth deep beneath it. Digging for these diamonds with bare hands day and night, are young men on the frontier of a new diamond rush in South Africa. Hope beckons for the previously drug addicted Vianey who yearns for a better life. Nelson Mandela’s dream urges the homeless cook Patrick on into this new, hopeful future. Only George, the diamond diver, who once was a millionaire, is still hanging on to his memories of a bygone time. A poetic journey through the desert, the wind and the sand. [WS Journeyman]A film in grandiose images and very close to its protagonists speculating poetically around human nature - as well as the power of our dreams.' [DOK.fest Munich, Jan Sebening]'A Portrait on the Search for Happiness juxtaposes elegant cinematography and sensitive storytelling with raw truths about today’s South Africa.' [Encounters International South African Documentary Film Festival]'A heart-warming journey of hope, resilience and the will of overcoming.' [Zubenathi Malothana, Callsheet Africa]