Films by Meike Martens

Burkina Faso, France, Germany 2021, 67 min
by Moumouni Sanou

Every evening in a popular area of the city of Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso, Mrs Coda welcomes the children of prostitutes at her home. The young women then stroll through the 'Black', a lively alley in the city center, until daybreak when they come to pick up their babies.

Germany 2020, 73 min
by Frederik Arens Grandin

KiW tells the story of the young Lebanese Ali, who leaves Paris after a series of setbacks to try his luck in his hometown Dakar after all. He founds KiW, a small fish factory named after the moment in which fish make their catch and their luck. And Ali’s business grows – despite the international exploitation of the Senegalese waters, heavy rains, power outages and other adversities.It is, however, the investment of his cousin Hacem that leads to irreconcilable differences and casts Ali away to a new, old life – on Haiti…

2020, 79 min
by Daniel Kötter

The film Rift Finfinnee takes the viewer on a journey through the periphery of Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. In strictly composed images and a soundtrack that interweaves the original conversations in a complex way, the film takes the concrete geography, architecture and the every day life of individual agricultural and construction workers in the east of Addis Ababa (in Oromo: Finfinnee) as the starting point for an allegorical narrative about the becoming urban of African societies on the edge of civil war.with Milkesa Takele, Kokeb Solomon, Tsedeke Woldu, Maheder Gebremedhin and many others

Germany 2016, 75 min
by Anna Wahle

In the middle of Germany, there’s a region which locals call – more or less affectionately – the Siberia of Hesse. The climate is rough, buses drive seldom, and the next big city feels a daytrip away and there's not much to do for adolescents.This is where Joshua, Laura, Hannah, Philipp, Tobi and Leonie are growing up. They’ve just turned 16 and ride the emotional rollercoaster of adolescence. After the summer holidays they will leave school to try their luck at further education somewhere else. The Last Six Months deals with their experiences during the last months before graduation: what they fight for, which resolutions they make, how they fall in and out of love. They wonder what to expect from life; sometimes finding their own answers and sometimes remaining helpless.The definitive of The Last Six Months is its narrative style. In a multilayered collage of memories and wishes, things told and things experienced, we dive into the protagonists' perspectives in a kaleidoscope of the young first-person narrators.

Belgien, Germany, Netherlands 2014, 102 min
by Petra Krüger

N is a story of an unusual obsession: A French encyclopaedist tries to complete his life’s work from beyond death. The film recounts the story of Raymond Borremans, who left Europe for Africa in the early 20th century. He devoted his life to the creation of the first encyclopaedia of this other world, dreaming of eternal recognition. He died, however, having only reached the letter N. With his encyclopaedia incomplete, his restless spirit drifts around West Africa, caught between life and death, past and present. Why has he returned to the living? An African woman who helps restless spirits find peace, tries to lead him towards his destiny. Hovering between dream and reality, this magical film plays on the confrontation between the Western mind and African spirituality. A production of Inti Films - Blinker Filmproduktion - Cobra Films - Dieptescherpte - Mollywood - ZDF in cooperation with arte Funded by MEDIA Programme of the EU - VAF - Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles - NFF - EURIMAGES

2013, 26 min
by Bernd Sahling

Emma and her friends Ronje and Benjamin live in Gjesvær, a small village on the arctic island Magerøya. Their parents work as fishermen in family businesses. Winters are long in Gjesvær, in May there can still occur heavy snow storms. There are no cinemas or clubs in the remote village next to the North Cape. What is life like in such a place, when you are 14?

Germany 2012, 65 min
by Thomas Heise

CONSEQUENCE follows the tiring working day between Christmas Eve and New Year at a small crematorium operating 24/7. This medium-sized business guarantees to deal with a dead body within three days - ensuring reliable planning for undertakers. So those left behind have the chance to quickly get back to their own productive everyday lives. Swift cremation helps the affected cope with bereavement quickly, says the company brochure. There’s a lot to be done. “It’s the economy, stupid!” In pictures without words CONSEQUENCE tells the story of what happens to us.

Germany 2010, 100 min
by Philip Scheffner

DAY OF THE SPARROW is a political wildlife documentary. It tells the story of a country where theborder between war and peace is disappearing. On November 14th , 2005 a sparrow is shot dead in Leeuwarden, and in Kabul a German soldier dies. These competing headlines are the starting point for director Philip Scheffner, to trace the war using the methods of an ornithologist. On his journey through Germany, the camera circuits a reality of the war – by capturing images of apparent peace.Dialogue fragments are wafting through deserted landscapes. Birds remain in the focus, becoming our guides to hidden places where the war is produced. And then, a sudden change of perspective: An arrest takes place on a Brandenburg country lane. The birdwatchers themselves become the targets of observation.

Germany 2010, 18 min
by Piet Eekman

"W'hat'ya looking at?! Piss off, nigger! Get out of my way, Polak!" Serge and Filip don't always have it the easy way. At age 11, they need to put up with being insulted and provoked by older boys. Little Filip has no choice but to run or to ask his older brother for help. His friend Serge is tall and strong for his age, but he doesn't want to get in trouble or upset his mother. But then again: Is the grown-ups' good advice - "the wiser person gives in" - any help? Fortunately, there's football and above all their friendship.

Germany 2009, 20 min
by Bernd Sahling

Having come to Germany only recently, Edna is new in the class. And she stills needs to learn the foreign language. Seated at an extra desk in the last row, the Bosnian girl is sometimes forgotten by the class. And Edna sometimes forgets the class, too. But she draws more and more attention to herself.