Films by Paul Eisenach

Germany 2020, 91 min
by Julia Lemke, Anna Koch

GLITTER AND DUST is a documentary film about girls who do manly things in the male dominated world of rodeo and who try to find their own path in the process.Maysun does everything she can to gain her father's recognition, to meet his expectations - as a girl.Tatyanna (17) is competing as a bullrider for the Navajo team. Not only is she one of a few girls riding bulls, she is doing so without a helmet or protection. Although they move about in the powerful imagery of the American prairie and the myths of the Wild West, they give it new resonance and break free of it. In today's world, where many people yearn for the authoritarian systems of yesteryear, GLITTER & DUST tells the story of cowgirls who seek a new tomorrow in their conservative homeland.

2017, 74 min
by Michael Schmitt

In Germany you need the so-called Missio Canonica to teach the Catholic religion in any public school. This legal teaching authorization is only granted by the Catholic Church itself to those who pledge to lead a life according to the moral ethics of the faith. The document can easily be revoked for certain violations of loyalty, for example for those who are openly gay. Therefore my sister-in-law Marika, who had always wanted to teach Catholic religion, has to keep the relationship with my sister Anke a secret.After 14 years of hiding she has to make a decision: to carry on with the job she loves while staying in the closet or to marry my sister and finally come out at her workplace. This rather personal insight into an often neglected issue tackles the question of the connection between church and state in Germany, a country that claims to be one of the leading guardians of human rights, but is it?