Films by Evelyn Rack

Germany 2024, 85 min
by Kristine Nrecaj, Birthe Templin

HOUSE WITH A VOICE tells the story of six Burrneshas who, for different reasons, have decided to take on the social role of men. They have done this to circumvent patriarchal structures, to avoid misogynistic attacks, to support the family economically, to avoid compelled marriage and to be free. Our characters communicate with us intimately as they talk about their lives and bring us closely into their personal journey. They speak about freedom and oppression, about the promise of sacrificing their lives for the sake of their families’ survival. But also about the breaking of gender barriers and the power of the human mind to decide who we want to be. The film turns stereotypes and projections of gender discussions upside down. The Burneshas expand our awareness of human life and its universal conditions but in the end their story shows that the essences of life, which are identified as female, are held as less valuable, even less worth living. And that this remains so, worldwide. [TiDF]

Germany 2023, 24 min
by Therese Koppe

Mariella lives in Berlin with her family of seven. Her father was trained in kung fu martial arts at the Chinese Shaolin monastery. Today he runs the Berlin-Schöneberg kung fu school and prepares her and her sisters for the next tournament. This has been part of Mariella’s life for many years. But the nervousness before each competition never really gets better. [66 DOK Leipzig, Lina Dinkla]

Germany 2022, 96 min
by Eric Esser

An inherited family treasure trove of photos and film footage show the director's grandfather in southern Germany in the 1940s. In one clip, the grandfather is briefly seen at a funfair wearing a swastika on hisjacket. How is our perception of a loved one changed through a symbol that stands for murder by the millions? How can photos and film footage, memories and archival material, be pieced together to form a coherentpicture? A struggle for memory – and a search whose persistence ultimately ruffles some feathers in the family.

Germany 2020, 90 min
by Sharon Ryba-Kahn

Sharon's relationship with Germany has always been conflictual to say the least, at the same this was something she had just accepted. This is true although, she was born in Munich and currently lives in Berlin. Sharon is Jewish and a third generation Shoah survivor. When her estranged father Moritz contacts her again after 7 years, it becomes an impetus for her to reconstruct her father's family history.  From here on a journey begins in which Sharon, tries to understand who her father is and who his parents were. After having survived the Holocaust her father's parents, who were originally from Poland arrived in Munich, in the American zone. They remained in Munich for the longest time. Sharon travels from place to place, from person to person trying to understand, how has the Shoah impacted her father's family. The past leads her always back to her own life, after all she is living in Germany. Little by little she also confronts her non-Jewish German environment.

2019, 73 min
by Therese Koppe

Erika and Tine are 81 and have been a couple for 40 years. The two women live on a farm in Brandenburg they restored themselves and look back on eventful lives. In the GDR they both had to fight for personal and artistic freedom and struggled daily with socialism, not to mention its actually existing contradictions. Unlike other GDR creative artists who cracked under the rejection of their art and ideas, they both take a humorous look back today at the manifold documents of their lives, contextualising and contradicting the numerous Stasi files with their own memories, photos, paintings, sculptures and texts. They use the conversations with the young director to take a close look at their own (GDR) past, but also the post-reunification period, the present and future.What can art do in times of social political challenge? How can one stay true to oneself, art and one’s ideals? Where are women still confronted by structural discrimination today? How can social grievances be resolved together? By staying naturally close to its protagonists, the film manages to achieve an enchantingly lucid narrative about freedom, autonomy, creativity and sociality – and, last but not least, a marvellous ode to love. (DOK Leipzig, Luc-Carolin Ziemann)An Honourable Mention goes to A QUIET RESISTANCE by Therese Koppe. The touching portrait of two women, creative artists in the GDR, is a memorable affirmation of how a social niche can evolve into a space of individual freedom. (Jury Statement, DOK Leipzig)

2018, 91 min
by Kirstin Schmitt

The eccentric couple Adelheid (78) and Kornelius (82) have been married for 53 years and only have themselves. They maintain a very individualistic lifestyle which often leads to a lot of astonishment by their fellow citizens. As of their stubbornness they only have themselves and fight to spend as much time together in the future as possible. The forceful Kornelius is the dominant part of their relationship. So far, Adelheid has always just gone along with everything, never having to make any decisions herself. Everything changes when Kornelius prostate cancer is prognosed at an advanced stage. They both are realists and know that the symbiotic „Us“ won’t last forever. Adelheid starts to prepare herself to be a widow some days. She has to learn to become more independent. Rehearsed relationship conditions start to turn around, as she thinks that Kornelius might be the first one to pass away.In precise miniatures of everyday life, the atmospheric long-term direct cinema documentation depicts their attempts to maintain normality and happiness, chronicling the farewell to their joint life. It deals in personal and humorous ways with universal topics like gender, love and life decision, self-determination, death and inner peace.