Films by Jana Pape

Germany 2023, 50 min
by Christian Zipfel

Far away, in the middle of the Namibian wasteland, on former German-colonial soil. Due to a lack of prospects, some Namibians dig for gemstones in illegal, dangerous mines. The transmedia series THE SOIL OF THE NAMIB tells their story in four documentary parts: A short film DREAMS, which follows three workers on their search, and three complementary 360° episodes. LAND deals with the issue of land theft and the identity of the local people. WRAITHS recounts the start of the diamond rush in Namibia and the ghosts of the past. And DARK takes viewers into shoulder-width, illegal mine ducts and accompanies two workers during their sweaty underground search.

Germany 2019, 25 min
by Hannes Schilling

50km east of Berlin was once a secret labor camp of the Nazis, of which there are no traces left today. A witness of the time, three ground and monument conservators and two war graves are asked to search for traces on the site. The confrontation with diary entries of former prisoners asks about the consequences of a fading culture of remembrance."A forest in Brandenburg. Digging for traces of history. Preservationists secure the foundation walls of a camp where Jewish prisoners from Theresienstadt were forced to build a branch office of the Berlin Reich Main Security Office under miserable conditions. Other men are searching for Nazi memorabilia with a metal detector. And then there is Mrs. Werner, Christa Werner, who has been living here for so long that she remembers the 'Judenloch (Judhole)' from the past.(DOK Leipzig, Silvia Hallensleben)