Films by Dorit Jeßner

Germany 2019, 81 min
by Robert Dobe, Omar Shalash

When Tamer Alawam was killed by a grenade in 2012, he left over 300 hours of film footage of the Syrian Revolution – images, which were meant to show Syria from inside. Overwhelmed by the flood of these images and driven by feelings of grief, responsibility and powerlessness, two young filmmakers and friends of Tamer in far away Germany start their own search for answers. While one of them meets with Tamer's companions to find out more about the motivations of his friend, the other begins collecting reactions in German society towards the war in Syria. A documentary about humanity, responsibility and the difficulties of finding the right way of action.

Germany 2019, 67 min
by Markus Weinberg

Their purpose: to save refugees from drowning. For this, Axel Steier and his team from the Dresden sea-rescue NGO “Mission Lifeline” have worked tirelessly for years to collect donations. Together with two Spanish NGO’s, they finally manage to buy their own ship and set off to the Mediterranean. In his hometown Dresden, Axel’s idea finds many friends but just as many enemies. And then, the truth at sea – oil leakage, refugee boats sinking before their eyes, even gunfire by Libyan militia. For two years, we accompanied Axel and his team with our camera – even onto the ship just off the Libyan coast, where the struggle to save people from certain death ultimately also turns into a fight for the European idea. (Aug&Ohr)