Films by Jörg Elsner

Germany 2020, 96 min
by Jörg Adolph

The whole world is talking about the environment, but frequently fails to listen to nature itself. Peter Wohlleben has changed all that: in THE HIDDEN LIFE OF TREES he opens our eyes to the hidden world of the woods.When Peter Wohlleben published his book “The Hidden Life of Trees” in 2015, he stormed all the bestseller charts overnight: no-one had ever written about the German woods like the forester from the parish of Wershofen before. Wohlleben tells us in an entertaining and enlightening fashion about the solidarity and cohesion of the trees and strikes a chord with his ever-growing community of readers: he brings us closer to these astounding living entities in guided tours of the woods and readings. Wohlleben travels to Sweden to see the oldest tree in the world; he visits businesses in Vancouver that are looking for a new approach to how to treat the woods; he sides with the Hambacher Forst demonstrators. Because he knows that we humans can only survive if the woods are healthy – and that the eleventh hour is already upon us…

Germany 2020, 110 min
by Janna Ji Wonders

In her documentary family saga WALCHENSEE FOREVER, director Janna Ji Wonders embarks on a deeply personal voyage of discovery spanning a century: She takes us from the family café at the Bavarian Walchensee to San Francisco to the infamous "Summer of Love“ and discovers the secrets of her family to track down their role in the generation chain. Surrounded by mountains, lake Walchensee rests in its endless dynamic and is the dramaturgical center of their life and this film. WALCHENSEE FOREVER is a very modern, soft and feminine documentary and a poetic project about generations of women, the circle of life and about the bond to one’s own roots.Statement of the Jury Compass-Perspektive-Award:This film is a crystal. The longer you look at it, the more you discover new facets. It portrays women of a family in Bavaria over five generations. Supplemented by extraordinary material obtained from the family's private archive, the protagonists report honestly, cleverly and directly to the camera. Accordingly, an overall picture of private life in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries emerges from these individual stories. Everything that is told remains personal and individual and, not least because of the modest attitude of the filmmaker and her protagonists, it develops an overwhelming strength. Cleverly assembled, clearly filmed and narrated and produced with warm-heartedness, we listen to and watch Apa, Norma, Anna, Frauke and Janna. The silent chronicler of it all is the Walchensee, which connects all their lives.

2017, 54 min
by Gereon Wetzel

With his studio Atelier Konstantin Grcic Industrial Design, Konstantin Grcic is at the forefront of product and furniture design. He is considered one of the most innovative and profound contemporary designers and thinkers worldwide. Many of his designs are already in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, such as his legendaryChair_One, or his lamp Mayday, a portable floor or suspended lamp made of plastic, reminiscent of the illumination devices found in an auto repair shop.? Grcic argues at a certain remove from such terms as aesthetics of form, or comfort, using such expressions as narration, context, surrounding space. His focus is on human beings and theirenvironment; the things with which they surround themselves, and that surround them.

Germany 2016, 73 min
by Gudrun Gruber

The US-Mexican border area, Arizona. The Frontier or La Frontera has always been seen as a symbol of freedom on the horizon of the American West and has always been subject to burgeoninng territorial battles. The hilly landscape of the Sonora Desert has not come to rest even today. Every year, the remains of hundreds of migrants are salvaged between the cactus forests and steppes. The advancement of new technology in border security has its effects far inland, and the people live between surveillance systems, fear of terrorism, and the already over 1,100 kilometer long borderfence – and the construction continues. The tense situation in the border area has long divided the inhabitants into two camps: the one demands more border security, the other more humanitary help.But what is the right direction? And does more security technology actually bring more security – or more deaths? This documentary film portrays life on the geographic edge of the United States, from the perspective of the desert dwellers. It accompanies locals, NGOs and paramilitaries on their ways through the border area and offers insight into the world’s largest trade fair for border security technology and industry, the Border Security Expo in Phoenix, Arizona. (HOF)