Travel to the outermost reaches of reality here in Absurdistan. Veit Helmer creates a world of his own, full of whimsical humour, drops of fairytale charm and many magical ideas. Absurdistan – it could be a place, a way of life, or maybe it’s just simply a surreal, enchanting feeling of timelessness and poetic dreams.

A remote little village in a place somewhere between Europe and Asia, at a time somewhere between yesterday and today. Ever since they were children, Aya (Kristýna Maléřová) and Temelko (Maximilian Mauff) have been destined to be together. When the time finally comes for them to consummate their partnership, they are full of excited anticipation. Following the age-old tradition, a date is determined with the help of the stars, this night will begin with a long bath together. But as the longed-for night draws ever nearer, the village well runs dry.

When the men of the village make no effort to repair the damage, the women decide to take some drastic measures. They throw their men out of their marital beds, erect a fence straight through the middle of the village, separating the men from the women, finally deciding to go on strike: no water, no sex! Aya aligns herself with her fellow women. For the sake of saving his love and not missing out on the providential astral constellation, Temelko does everything in his power to start the spring flowing again; and this requires him to resort to some off-the-wall measures.

You often find the very best stories in the newspapers. In 2001 Veit Helmer discovered a tiny article on the back page of the Berliner Tagesspiegel newspaper which told of a sex strike taking place in a village in Turkey. This immediately grabbed Helmer’s attention and soon he was hot on the trail of a new story. In Sirt in southern Turkey, the women of the village had decided to take a stand after their husbands were unable to repair the defunct drinking water pipes. This meant they had to undertake an arduous trip over several kilometres to get this precious resource. It’s not hard to guess whose job this was. The strike proved effective in the end: the pipe was fixed at once and marital bliss in Sirt was restored. Sometimes the simplest measures are those that prove the most successful.

Helmer has succeeded in creating a modern fairytale that captures audiences’ hearts with a film shot in northwest Azerbaijan, far removed from mainstream cinema and light-years away stereotypical European films. A love story like no other, a film about the power of women, and about men, the “fragile sex”.

Visually innovative and deeply touching, “Absurdistan” is a romantic farce with a unique narrative style; a cinematic feast full of wonderful emotions and visual delights.

Production Country

Germany (DE)

Production Period

2006-2008

Production Year

2008

color

color

Aspect Ratio

1:1,85

Duration

Feature-Length Film (61+ Min.)

Type

Feature Film

Genre

Fantasy / Fairy Tale, Comedy

Topic

Relationship / Family, Sexuality, Equal Rights / Emancipation

Available Media

35mm, DVD

Original Version

Russian (ru)

35mm

Subtitles

English (en), French (fr), Spanish (es)

DVD

Subtitles

German (full), English (en), Spanish (es), French (fr), Portuguese (Brazil) (pt), Czech (cs)