Festivalimpressions 2014 - Saturday, 22.11.
 

At lunch the film-makers met to have lively conversations

Producer Christian Vizi and Cutter Sandra Brandl ( „Flowers of Freedom“)
  Director Cornelia Grünberg („Achzehn“)
  Director Mirjam Leuze ( „Flowers of Freedom“)
  Director Petra Volpe („Traumland“)
 
  Director Cornelia Grünberg has already visited in 2012 with “Vierzehn”, the fist part of the long term documentary about young mothers.
  This time she returned with “Achzehn” and was accompanied by protagonist Fabienne Renaud and her fiancé.
 
  Afterwards there were still questions for Cornelia Grünberg and Fabienne
 
  The film-makers of „Flowers of Freedom“, producer Christian Vizi, cutter Sandra Brandl und director Mirjam Leuze (f.left) tell about the huge amount of filmed material which they had gathered during the four years of filming, but also about the protagonist Erkingül, and how they had to process and cut the gathered material during a long lasting procedure.
  Mirjam Leuze got aware of the issue when she was filming in Peru, where are the hugest gold mines in the world. So she linked the topic of the mine exploitation with her experience as a student of ethnology in Kyrgystan, where she did field research and got confronted with the cyanide-spill. Seven years later she found out, that women had blocked the access road to the gold mine. So she followed these courageous women in her film….
  It was touching to hear in the audience a woman from Kyrgystan tell about her personal experience and ask about what Erkingül was able to achieve within the parliament.
The film-maker explains that Erkingül has initiated a law for the protection of the glaciers, which tried to forbid all industrial activities on glaciers. This went through three readings in the parliament, was adopted and signed by the president. Nonetheless he withdrew the law after being on pressure by the mine industry. This means the law is suspended and needs further pressure by the activists…
  With respect to the question, if women there are in general so strong and had such an important position in society, Mirjam Leuze explains that the role model of women is still influenced by the former Soviet Union, where women were strongly promoted and reached good positions; that interestingly enough in Kyrgystan the directors of huge institutions and NGO are all women. The women had also explained to her, that men, when they are politically committed, are more endangered, more objects of police violence than women who take to the streets to demonstrate.
 
  For the screening of her debut feature film „Be My Baby“ director Christina Schiewe came to Tuebingen
  All in all she worked almost six years to finish her film, which confronts the tabu topic of sexuality and disability.
  The audience was thrilled.
  Many questions still arose after the screening with respect to Christina Schiewes film.



 



 

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Photos: Alexander Gonschior