Films by Irina Heckmann

Germany 2024, 145 min
by Irina Heckmann

2017 – I am travelling to Russia with a German tour group. I take the diary of Wehrmacht soldier Buff, killed in action in 1942 when he tried to give first aid to a Russian soldier, as my travel reading. Our itinerary intersects with places where he fought. I grew up in Russia. My grandmother toiled in Stalin's camps. 2022 – the conflict that Russia's attack on Ukraine triggered in me runs through the film. The journey to Russia was characterised by encounters between people whose parents' or grandparents' had common experiences – those of the Second World War. In brief moments of rapprochement, many questions remain unanswered – especially about the purpose of war.

Germany 2017, 82 min
by Irina Heckmann

Three Generations tell about their feelings, mainly women, the men act in the background. All of them arrived to Germany with their bag of experiences, their own past and frustrations. The bags are being unpacked. The family sticks together. The search for a homeland here and there. Siberia was a place where many were deported to. The bag of experience of the grandmother as a German in Russia – the labour camp and hunger have marked her face. The mother works as a cleaner in a gym, the father helps farmers, in the past he used to be an academic. Everyday life drags on through the film and is not always easy to manage. Often, the family is like any other, at Christmas there are family meals and presents. Everyone has their own opinion and has their own life to live.Sofia Independent Filmfestival, Duisburger Filmwoche, Stranger Than Fiction Dokumentarfilmfest