The Picture of the Day

DIRECTOR: Jo-Anne Velin COUNTRIES: Canada, Germany   YEAR: 2016   LANGUAGE(S): German   RUNNING TIME: 91 min

SECTION: Weekender 2018

SYNOPSIS

When the mayor of Tröglitz had to resign because he had stood up for refugees and their home burned down shortly afterwards, camera crews swarmed into the small community in Saxony-Anhalt. When the media throng left, Jo-Anne Velin arrived – and stayed. She spent eleven months with the residents of the village between the attack and the regional elections (in which the right-wing populists won by a landslide).

As a Canadian, Velin brought the foreign with her and discovers remarkable lines that lead to the variously used concentration camp barracks in the area and ultimately to Imre Kertész. However, she not only establishes connections on the timeline, but also geographically. She repeatedly combines images of refugees crossing to Europe with those of the people of Tröglitz. This could be you, these pictures say. And – thinking further – you too are Tröglitz. A courageous step. (Grit Lemke)

JO-ANNE VELIN

FILMOGRAPHY

One Fine Line (2013), The Picture of Today (2016)

SCRIPT: Jo-Anne Velin    PRODUCERS: Eike Goreczka, Jo-Anne Velin CAMERA: Jo-Anne Velin, Thomas Beetz EDITOR: Jo-Anne Velin

PRODUCTION: 42film GmbH, velinraconte film WORLD SALES: velinraconte film GERMAN DISTRIBUTOR: velinraconte film