Films by Friedemann Hottenbacher

Germany 2022, 53 min
by Friedemann Hottenbacher

It probably took a visionary obsession similar to that of Fitzcarraldo, the eccentric entrepreneur and opera lover in Werner Herzog's film of the same name to build an opera house in the middle of the largest contiguous rainforest area in the world.After the decline of the rubber industry, the music in the house also falls silent. The memory fades, the house sinks into a thorny sleep. But the myth of the Amazon lives on...TEATRO AMAZONAS is a portrait of an opera house that reflects the cultural

2022, 105 min
by Tina Tripp

"Shall I stay or shall I go?" This question makes young people in East Pomerania sway between departure and attachment to their homeland, pragmatism and diffuse longings. MID SEASON follows 4 trainees in the hotel business on an island that is disintegrating into a booming, touristy coastal strip with shiny facades and a desolate hinterland. Just as their place of work, the hotel, is a transitory place, so the young people are in a transitory phase of life.»Bleiben oder Gehen?« Diese Frage lässt

2020, 87 min
by Martina Priessner

For 20 years, the Syrian Orthodox nun Dayrayto lives on the grounds of a church in Zaz, a dilapidated and abandoned Assyrian village in southeastern Turkey. Ever since the monk died six years ago she lives alone with her animals. Her presence in the region is a thorn in the side of many local actors. Lately, the situation is getting worse. Dayrayto, however, made a vow to protect the church and not to leave the holy place, even at the cost of her life.

Germany 2013, 52 min
by Friedemann Hottenbacher, Maximilian M. Monch

Plastic floats, and millions of tonnes enter the ocean every year. Scientists see alarming results: synthetic hormones are released as plastic breaks down into tiny particles through wind, wave and sun exposure. Once in seawater, plastic absorbs toxic substances known as POPs in a density a million times higher than outside. Fish and sea birds mistake plastic for food, with evidence that these toxins are entering the food chain and winding up in our bodies. Worse still, the plastic doesn’t biod