Films by Ina Tangermann

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)

Germany 2019, 94 min
by Hendrik Schäfer

We accompany an Israeli gay couple, Motty and Alon, on their journey to have biological twins through their gestational surrogate, Krista, from Oregon/USA.For a period of one year, we look into the couple’s daily lives in Israel. We observe how they cope with the financial, medical, social and religious issues Israel’s reality poses them on their quest for fatherhood. Through their personal story, the film raises questions about parenthood, social norms and the zeitgeist of our technologically advanced world. A close look on Israel’s society and the main stream gay baby boom.