Films by Jonas Schneider

Germany 2023, 86 min
by Benjamin Rost

Imad, Nourdine, Walid and Hamza live in a stone cave under a lighthouse in Melilla. Every night, the Moroccan teenagers break into the nearby port. There, they try to climb unnoticed onto ships bound for the Spanish mainland. They and dozens of other children have formed their own community under the protection of the rocks. Director Benjamin Rost documents the impressive lives of the young people over a period of five years. The film's title describes the widespread practice of illegal North African immigrants burning their papers, and thus their identities, when apprehended by police. A poignant documentary that offers a glimpse into an unknown world. [19ZFF]

Germany, Libanon, Qatar 2022, 90 min
by Lea Najjar

Above Beirut flies an unexpected bearer of hope: the pigeon game "Kash Hamam". During the recent dystopian political collapse, we embark on a journey from roof to roof and observes a city in turmoil from the perspective of three pigeon players and a young girl fighting to release her own birds.Under the golden sun of Beirut, men stand on rooftops and shoot oranges at the sky. They do this to scare their pigeons, make them fly further, and make them stronger. They play the game Kash Hamam, where you have to lure the other players’ pigeons into your own pigeon loft. If you succeed, there’s Kash. And then you cut the feathers off the pigeon. Or feed it to the cats. Lea Najjar’s cinematic debut is a vital portrait of her hometown Beirut. A city hit by a corrupt elite, popular protests and one of the biggest explosions of the 21st century. But also a city where its hard-pressed citizens come together and form communities despite the chaos. On the flat rooftops high above the labyrinthine streets, we meet three men who have bonded over their love of pigeons – and a girl who dreams of entering the masculine game, Kash Hamam. A vivid, impressionistic snapshot from an already eminent director. [CPH:DOX]“From a tiny anecdote this film expands its cinematic universe and unveils the disillusionment of an entire city – an entire country. From the opening scene’s claustrophobic setting, to the final wide eye of an artificial pigeon, witnessing the place it took flight from. We, the jury, wish to give this year’s Next:Wave Award to a piece of delicate yet vigorous cinema: ‘Kash Kash – Without Feathers We Can’t Live’” [Jury CPH:DOX]

2021, 98 min
by Anna-Sophia Richard

Almost every inhabitant of Fondo Negro has relatives abroad. Since the 1980s, job migration, meaning wages shared with the residents from afar, has been one of the most important sources of income in this region in the southwest of the Dominican Republic. Young women in particular go to Europe or the U.S. to support their families by unskilled labour. In her enchantingly beautiful film, director Anna-Sophia Richard shows how this affects the ones who stay behind.When she set out on the journey to Europe, she didn’t know what to expect, says one of the seven people portrayed. It was as if she was going on a holiday: a holiday that’s now lasted more than thirty years. Others haven’t seen their families in over fifteen years, their only contact being by phone or video chat. The mayor of Fondo Negro, herself the first job migrant from the region, tries to keep the women in the village. But the pull of jobs elsewhere is powerful. What’s left are separated families, children who grow up without parents and couples who become estranged. Almost in passing, the director shows in colourful, dreamy images how provisional solutions manifest themselves and permanently shape the reality of people’s lives. Happiness is only an eight-hour flight away – and still unattainable. [Kim Busch, 64 DOK Leipzig]