Documentary & theatre play – part of the two-year cross platform project FIGHT (FOR) INDEPENDENCE
In cooperation with
The Oldenburg State Theater
The State Theater Nuremberg
The Ballhaus Ost Berlin
The Edith-Russ-House for Media Art
Worldpremiere at the 44th Filmfestival Max Ophuels Prize
24 January 2023 at 5:30 pm in Saarbruecken
The Afro-German actor Helen Wendt takes the audience on a journey along her family history between the GDR, Mozambique and West Berlin, while exploring how her identity and personal independence is embedded in the social context of Germany. In a hybrid approach, the film simultaneously follows members of independence movements in Mozambique, South Sudan, Great Britain, Catalonia and Bavaria, asking what it means for people to fight for their freedom. What does independence truly mean and how do colonialism and racism, the causes of many independence movements, define the world to this day?
While learning more about Helen’s past through encounters with her mother in Berlin and her father and half-sister in Maputo, the camera embeds within angry protests, portraits emotional reports of politicians, freedom fighters, refugees and ordinary citizens, glides through meditative imagery of coastlines and mountains and unites the polyphonic narratives at Black Lives Matter protests in Berlin.
“Independence” takes a multilayered approach, placing individual and political experience on equal footing, combined with sequences of a choreographic installation in which Helen performs – the latter being part of the cross-platform, documentary art project “Fight (for) Independence”.
The project started in 2018 and joined forces with the State Theater Nuremberg and the Oldenburg State Theater. Filming began in civil war-torn South Sudan, the youngest state in the world, which gained independence from the rest of Sudan after a long armed struggle. It continued at the formerly planned date of Brexit in March 2019, amidst the political turmoil in the United Kingdom and from there headed on to the federal state of Bavaria, where a party is also seeking separation from the nation state of Germany. The cinematic-journalistic performance “Independence for All” was presented on stage in Nuremberg and Berlin in the summer of 2019.
In the 2019/20 season, the research and filming continued with Catalonia’s attempts to break away from the nation state, which served as the basis for the choreographic installation “Independence in Space” that was developed together with the Catalan dancer Montserrat Gardó Castillo, and which lead on to Mozambique’s historic struggle for independence from colonial powers.
Originally, the multimedia performance “Independence for You” was planned on stage for the Banden! Theatre Festival at the Oldenburg State Theater. As no rehearsals could take place due to Covid-19, the Costa Compagnie continued developing and filming in 2021 and proceeded with the (post-)production of the film “Independence” in 2021/2022. A presentation of the process including panel discussions took place online in July 2020. The Banden! Theatre Festival was followed up online in 2021, also with an online discussion of the Oldenburg research participants. The film will now premiere in January 2023.
With great thanks to all interview partners!
Writer and Director: Felix Meyer-Christian With the participation of: Helen Wendt, Ilona Wendt & Interviewpartners Dance & Choreography: Montserrat Gardó Castillo, Katharina Shakina, Jascha Viehstaedt, Helen Wendt Directors of Photography: Philine von Düszeln, Thomas Oswald Additional Footage: Felix Meyer-Christian, Andy Wain, Miguel Murrieta Vásquez Editor: Stéphanie Morin Voice Over Testimony: Helen Wendt Music: Marcus Thomas Virtual Reality, Video Installation & Website: Erik Kundt Color Correction: Nour Yazbeck at Planemo Films Stage, Costumes: Lydia Sonderegger Dramaturgy Advisor: Hauke Heumann Outside Eye: Zahava Rodrigo Editing Advisor: Niels Pagh Andersen, Joelle Alexis Collaboration Research – Germany: Hauke Heumann, Lisa Mies, David Pallant, Maria Walser Spain: Agnes Kammerer, Jens Ochlast England: Sascha Kölzow, Raphael Rubino Collaboration and Translation in Mozambique: Timoteo Maposse Collaboration and Translation in South Sudan: Samir Bol, Ismail Omar Production Management: Franziska Merlo Dramaturgy and Coordination State Theatres Oldenburg und Nuremberg: Marc-Oliver Krampe, Sascha Kölzow Orchestra recordings Oldenburg: Jan Bergström (Oboe/ Englischhorn), Michael Hagemeister (Kontrabass), Agnes Izdebska (Violine), Jens Pfaff (Fagott) Assistant Oldenburg: Aisha Abo-Mostafa Assistant Nürnberg: Michael Königstein
Credit Photos: Thomas Oswald, Felix Meyer-Christian
Funded by the Doppelpass Fund of the German Federal Cultural Foundation
A production of Costa Compagnie in cooperation with the Oldenburg State Theater and the State Theater Nuremberg, as well as the Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art.
Kindly supported by INVR.SPACE
