ABSENT PRESENT

DE, ES, SN 2010, D Angelika Levi, C Antje Schäfer, E Angelika Levi, Friederike Anders, M Marta Montserrat, Francisco Tornero, Samba Sock, Richard Howell, Benji P., P celestefilm, Print colour & b/w, DCP from Digibeta, 85 min, german/engl./spanish OV with engl. SUB, Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst e.V.

Benji was brought from Namibia to the GDR in 1979 as a young child and sent back in 1990 after German reunification. Levi got to know him there in 1991. Two years later, he hitchhiked back to Europe disguised as a tourist. But "in this film there is no main character. Benji, who should have been it, has disappeared," it is stated at the beginning of the movie. On her search for traces, Levi associatively links the story of the refugee with the stories of flight of those she meets underway. The journey leads from Germany to Namibia, to the Spanish mainland and the Canary Islands, all the way to Senegal. Without wanting to draw a geographical or political map, an essayistic documentary on the various forms of traveling emerges: vacation and migration, voluntary and forced return. (Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst e.V.)

© Angelika Levi
×
Acronyms
amer. American English
b/w Black and white
OV Original version
SUB Subtitles
+SUB electronic live subtitling (below the image)
INT Intertitles
Countries
AT Austria
FRG Federal Republic of Germany (historic)
BLR Belarus
DE Germany
CAN Canada
GDR German Democratic Republic (historic)
EGY Egypt
FR France
GB Great Britain
URY Uruguay
BRA Brasil
SWE Sweden
UKR Ukraine
PL Poland
IDN Indonesia
PRT Portugal
HRV Croatia
ECU Ecuador
HUN Hungary
AUS Australia
IT Italy
MEX Mexico
IND India

Followed by a discussion with the director

Angelika Levi

Angelika Levi is a Berlin based filmmaker. Her work is shown at international film festivals, cinemas and exhibitions. Her short film Faust aufs Auge (1988) won the No Budget Video Prize Hamburg, and Desiree & Polylepis (1994) was rated “high quality” by the German Film Classification Board in Wiesbaden. MY LIFE PART 2, her first full-length documentary, won several awards and had its premiere at the Forum/International Berlin Film Festival 2003. Her essay film ABSENT PRESENT (2010) had its Premiere at The Women´s Film Festival in Barcelona. Children of Srikandi had its Premiere at the Panorama/ international Berlin Film Festival 2012 and won also several awards. MIETE ESSEN SEELE AUF (Rent eats the soul) was shown as a 3-channel film installation in the exhibition "Housing Question" in "Haus der Kulturen der Welt" in Berlin 2015. Levi is working also as an editor and dramaturgic advisor. Her film AHORITA FRAMES premiered at the 71st Berlinale in Forum Expanded in 2021.

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