DCM Screening 2010

Wednesday, 20.10.10 | 18:00–20:00

My Life With Carlos
by Germán Berger, Spain
developed by Bettina Walter (Masterschool 2005)

A production by TODO POR LAS NIÑAS co-produced by Gebrueder Beetz, La Huella del Gato, Cinedirecto, ZDF/ARTE, TVE and CHV. With the support of IBERMEDIA, FONDART, CORFO, Filmstiftung NRW and MEDIA, CECC.

Synopsis:
MY LIFE WITH CARLOS is the voyage of a son in search of the memory of his assassinated father.

In 1973, Chilean political activist Carlos Berger Guralnick was murdered by the Pinochet regime in the notorious "Caravana de la Muerte" (the death convoy).

This tragic event shattered a family. Carlos’ wife Carmen Berger turned her life and work as a lawyer into a never-ending campaign against the dictatorship.

But her son, Germán Berger, remained virtually ignorant about his father. The family only spoke of Carlos as political icon.

It is the intimate diary of a broken family struggling to overcome tragedy.

MY LIFE WITH CARLOS is a journey into the heart of a Chilean family, a metaphoric journey into the heart of current Chilean society, and, at the same time, an examination of pain and injustice.

Thursday, 21.10.10 | 18:00–20:00

Men Who Swim
by Dylan Williams, Sweden (Masterschool 2008)

A coproduction of Animal Planet US, Animal Planet International, France 5 and ORF.

Synopsis: Men Who Swim is a humorous and poignant look at a group of middle aged men who have found unlikely success as members of Sweden’s all male synchronised swimming team. What began as a weekly escape from the daily grind of work and family responsibilities, gradually evolved into a more serious commitment. Inspired by classical Esther Williams’ techniques from the 1950s, this group of train drivers and meat buyers, archivists and teachers soon became passionate exponents of the sport. After initially believing that they are the only all male team in the world they’re surprised to discover that other countries also have teams including Japan, Ukraine, Holland, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy and Spain. For the first time there is even going to be an unofficial All Male World Championship in the Sport.

2009 is also a significant year for many in the team as over half of them will turn 40. It is an age when they must take stock of their lives and ask themselves what they have achieved, and wonder where they are going in the future. Men Who Swim looks at what it means to be part of a team and also what it is to be an individual at a crucial time in life. Funny and poignant ultimately it’s about realising that maybe you’ve already got everything you ever wanted.

Friday, 22.10.10 | 18:00–20:00

Farewell
by Ditteke Mensink, The Netherlands (Masterschool 2004)

A Pieter van Huystee Film & TV production.

Constructed entirely of archive footage, Farewell is the story of English journalist Lady Grace Drummond-Hay. In August of 1929, two months before the stock market crash would plunge the world into the Great Depression, newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst added Drummond-Hay to the passenger list of the Graf Zeppelin as the only female. This impressive airship would be the very first to make a voyage around the world. For this prestigious project, a symbol of hope and progress, Hearst was looking for someone who wanted to write about the trip "from a female perspective." Drummond-Hay was ecstatic: "I shall write for him as if my life depended on it." Under the supervision of her colleague and ex-boyfriend Karl Henry von Wiegand, she spent 21 days reporting on the flight, which started in New York and went to Friedrichshafen, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and ended back in the Big Apple. Needless to say, it was a trip that did not go off completely without a hitch. Using Drummond-Hay's diary entries and newspaper articles as a basis, the film sketches a picture of the occasionally tough journey and a changing Europe. Drummond-Hay makes the viewer part of her impressions of the devastated continent. She tells of the funeral wreaths thrown from the Zeppelin over Verdun, riots in Berlin, and the rise of Communism in Russia, struggling with feelings for her ex-boyfriend all the while.