Films by Valentin Thurn

2023, 87 min
by Rubén Abruña

When sewers were built in the 19th century, they were regarded as a blessing. Deadly epidemics that wiped out millions of people became a thing of the past in the Western world. However, sewers also abolished the millennia-old tradition of using our excrement as fertilizer, and broke the nutrient cycle of grow-eat-excrete-compost-to grow food again. The modern flush and forget toilet discards our excrement as waste, while agriculture uses more mineral fertilizers to produce food. Mineral fertili

2021, 98 min
by Valentin Thurn

To realize your dream sometimes you have to make a cut and leave your hamsterwheel. Van Bo builds 'Tiny Houses' to create cheap housing. Carl-Heinrich invented a zeppelin transporting heavy payloads float through the air and got bankrupt – but still continued. Line does not want her children to go to school. Joy builds floating islands out of trash. And Günther dreams to be one of the first persons to colonize Mars. Director Valentin Thurn accompanies five people searching for alternatives. What

2018, 93 min
by Bettina Renner

Haris is fifteen years old. He was born in Dresden and grew up with a self-concept of being german. But now, during puberty, Haris not only discovers girls, but also his otherness, as he says: His bosnian roots. He explores what part of him is bosnian and constructs his own identity.Haris's older sister, Adisa, was seven years old when she and her mother and brother Farouk had to flee Bosnia in 1992 and came to Dresden. When she was as old as Haris today, she tried to take away everything from B

Germany 2014, 100 min
by Valentin Thurn

In this century alone the world population will increase to 10 billion. Where do we get enough food that each individual needs to survive? How do we stop mankind from destroying the very foundation of ist food source?Valentin Thurn travels the world over to study the essentials of food production, during which he encountered diverse interest groups. He meets organic farmers and agro industry speculators, visits urban gardens and commercial slaughterhouses. The film makes a point of showing susta

Germany, South Korea, Netherlands 2011, 88 min
by Valentin Thurn

Why do we throw away so much? And how can we stop this kind of waste? Amazing but true: On the way from the farm to the dining-room table, more than half the food lands on the dump. Most of it before it ever reaches consumers. For instance every other head of lettuce or potato. When it comes right down to it, no one actually thinks this is okay: Food is not something to be thrown away “because others have nothing to eat”, as younger people would say, and as for the elderly: “I was around during