Lonely Oaks

Vergiss Meyn Nicht

International Forum 2023

Open Eyes 2023

COUTNRY: Germany YEAR: 2023 RUNTIME: 102 min

DIRECTED BY: Fabiana Fragale, Kilian Kuhlendahl, Jens Mühlhoff

LANGUAGE(S): German, English

SUBTITLES: German

SCRIPT: Fabiana Fragale, Kilian Kuhlendahl, Jens Mühlhoff

PRODUCED BY: Knut Losen, Melanie Andernach

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Carina Neubohn, Steffen Meyn Camera

EDITED BY: Ulf Albert

SCORE: Antonia de Luca, Caroline Kox

SCREENINGS

SYNOPSIS

Why do people endanger their lives for political purposes? And where does utopia meet painful reality? Driven by a fascination for activism and the belief in a better community, the young film student Steffen Meyn goes to Hambacher Forest in 2018. There, activists oppose the clearing of the forest by the RWE corporation. He quickly connects with the activists in their tree houses through his open, cordial manner. With his 360° camera he accompanies the protest action as a journalist and films the eviction attempts of the police live from the treetops.

Until tragedy ensues: Steffen falls into the depths and dies on the spot. His friends have created this documentary from the footage Steffen left behind, which is an impressive study of activism in which the use of one’s own body appears as a last resort.

Fabiana Fragale

Italian-Swiss filmmaker Fabiana Fragale was born in Zurich in 1994. Since 2015 she lives in Cologne and studies at the KHM Cologne. Her documentary and fictional works primarily deal with anti-capitalist and intersectional-feminist topics. In 2018 she founded the art collective Polsprung.

The Zone (2017), Lady Marmalade (2019), Made in Germany (2022), Con il pensiero rivolto al mare (2023), Der Frau ein Wolf (2023), Vergiss Meyn nicht (2023)

Kilian Kuhlendahl

In 2017 Kilian Kuhlendahl finished his studies at the KHM Cologne. Since then they worked with different formats like film, audia book and graphic novel as a director and author. As a member of the collective Polsprung, Kilian Kuhlendahl creates multiperspective spatial installations and performances. Als Mitglied des Kollektivs Polsprung erschafft Kilian multiperspektivische Rauminstallationen und Performances.

Tröster (2013), Vergiss Meyn nicht (2023)

Jens Mühlhoff

Jens Mühlhoff, born in Wuppertal in 1991, studied at the KHM Cologne until 2018. His works as an artist frequently explore and work with public and semi-public spaces and deal with the everyday realisations of politics. For several, he has worked as a director and author for various film productions and as artistic director for independent art projects.

Die Suche nach dem Plötzlich (2016), Vergiss Meyn nicht (2023)

PRODUCTION: MADE IN GERMANY Filmproduktion (info@madeingermany-film.de)

WORLD SALES: New Docs (sales@newdocs.de)

GERMAN DISTRIBUTOR: W-film Distribution (mail@wfilm.de)