The outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and the year 1989 both represent the crossing or breaking down of actual and psychological boundaries. 1939 is not only synonymous with the violent breach of a border, but also with a breach of civilisation, the likes of which had previously been unimaginable. The year 1989 heralded in the peaceful reappraisal of the demarcation lines created by the Cold War and quickly became a symbol of seemingly limitless freedom.

The Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” and the Goethe-Institut invited submissions for the third International Short Film Competition, the theme of which was “Crossing Boundaries”. The competition required young filmmakers to examine the geographic and socio-cultural legacies of the events of 1939 in conjunction with the consequences society has faced since the events of 1989.

The competition was aimed at students at film academies or similar institutions in Belarus, Germany, Estonia, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine und the USA. The juries in the respective countries selected 33 proposals from the 335 submitted, with each of these receiving a maximum budget of 4000 euros.

A wide range of film genres was to be found amongst the proposals, from fiction and animation to documentaries. The projects tackled the topic of “Crossing Boundaries” in very different ways. Some films look back on the events of 1939 and 1989, examining the social and individual consequences of these historic boundary crossings. Others use the topic as a metaphor and look at the limits of human communication.

Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future”

Goethe-Institut


Synopses, Biographies, Credits


Belarus

Vladimir Piskunovich, Fanya. Fragments of a Biography

Synopsis
1939, western Belarus. A young girl falls in love with a young officer of the Polish army. She allows herself to be carried away by this new feeling without realizing that the situation is becoming increasingly dangerous. She ignores all warnings until her lover’s life is in danger. This causes her to look at the situation from a new angle. A jilted admirer who is a local smuggler strikes deceitfully and leaves the young officer wounded. The smuggler is arrested and thrown into prison. The officer slowly recovers. The time seems to be right to calm down and fully enjoy family happiness, but the military situation in the country changes, a new regime takes over and the protagonists' plans are shattered. The officer has been drafted and the new rulers release the people imprisoned by the old regime and generously provide them with influential positions. Human beings are human beings and will always abuse their positions for private ends.

Biography
Vladimir Piskunovich was born on 11 June 1981 in the north-east of Belarus. He attended school in Vitebsk. Deciding on a profession turned into a difficult and time-consuming process for him. Initially, he wanted to become a lawyer, then a manager and finally a civil servant. In 2001, he began to study fashion design and worked as a designer in the fashion industry for a while. In 2003, he developed a passion for the theatre, became a costume designer, did the set design for a couple of shows and wrote several plays. In 2005, he accepted an offer to become a costume designer in the film industry, and thereby finally discovered his real calling. Since 2007, he has been studying film directing at the Belarusian State Academy of Fine Arts with Alexander Yefremov. He continues to occasionally work as a set designer for the TV channel ONT, but sees that more as a hobby. His choice has been made and he has no more doubts: he wants to be a film director.

Credits
Country: Belarus
Year: 2009
Director: Vladimir Piskunovich
Cinematographer: Sergej Torbin, Ruslan Fechotow
Editor: Alexander Tituschkin
Production Format: Mini-DV
Color
Length: 14:55 min.
Screening Format: Mini-DV
School: Belarusian State Academy of Arts, Minsk


Elena Silutina, The Last War

Synopsis
An old man does not hide his aversion toward modern society. This smoldering conflict with society leads to an open confrontation with a young neo-Nazi Skinhead. And once again, the old soldier is victorious, but this time it is anotherr kind of victory: The old man takes the blame for somebody’s death, and thereby not only saves the teenager from prison, but also from taking a wrong path in life.

Biography
Elena Silutina was born on 22 September 1974 in Minsk, Belarus. She graduated with distinction from secondary school in 1991 and went on to study business mathematics at the Institute of Mechanics and Mathematics at the Belarusian State University. From there, she also graduated with distinction in 1997. From 2003 to 2005, she studied information management at the President of the Republic of Belarus Administrative University, from which she graduated with distinction again. Since 2007, she has been studying film directing with the director and artist of great renown in Belarus Professor A. W. Yefremov. Silutina is married. Her hobbies are acting and painting.

Credits
Country: Belarus
Year: 2009
Director: Elena Silutina (Alena Silutsina)
Cinematographer: Mikhail Kashkan
Editor: Elena Silutina
Production Format: Mini-DV
Color
Length: 14:59 min.
Screening Format: Mini-DV, 4:3
School: Belarusian State Academy of Arts, Minsk


Czech Republic

Tereza Reichová, The Shot

Synopsis
Footage of an emotional conflict between a dozen people was taken out of its context and exploited as a sensation by the commercial media. Within a month, about a hundred times as many people came back to the site of the scuffle and a real conflict started with the far-right Workers’ Party, the Roma and the media as its protagonists. Some time after the events, we went back to the same place and tried to confront people who had been involved with what happened back then and what it actually means.

Biography
Tereza Reichová was born in 1981 in Prague. She graduated from the Academy of Literature with a degree in interactive media/creative writing. She is currently in the second year of the documentary program at FAMU, the Czech film school.

Credits
Country: Czech Republic
Year: 2009
Director: Tereza Reichová
Cinematographer: Prokop Souček, Dan Souček
Editor: Kristýna Toupalová
Production Format: HDV, 16:9
Color
Length: 12:20 min.
Screening Format: Mini-DV, 16:9
School: Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague



Vladimir Turner, UFF

Synopsis
On 19 May 2009, a street performance was held in Prague under the title UFF which lasted the whole day. We monitored the signal of one of our cell phones, just like the Czech police do constantly. With the help of these location data we left a trace in the streets of our town. On the day of the performance, these traces could be followed in real time on the net, or people could follow maps which had been put up in the city and thereby participate in the happening, during which eighteen interventions in the city landscape were created. By re-contextualizing objects and places, we tried to interact with our surroundings.

Biography
Vladimir Turner was born in Prague in 1986. He has been studying audiovisual media at FAMU, the Czech national film school, since 2005. In 2008/2009, he spent a year at the Universidad de Cine in Buenos Aires.

Credits
Country: Czech Republic
Year: 2009
Director: Vladimir Turner
Cinematographer: Radek “Karko” Karkys, Vladimir Turner
Editor: Vladimir Turner
Production Format: HDV, 16:9 PAL
Color
Length: 13:15 min.
Screening Format: DVD / Beta SP, 16:9
School: FAMU, Centre of Audiovisual Studies

Estonia

Kristjan Holm, Escape

Synopsis
Breakfast is over at the kindergarten, but one bowl of porridge is still sitting there untouched. The strict nanny’s educational methods are obviously in danger. The little boy responsible for the omission now has to try to solve the situation fast. But it doesn’t look promising: the situation is reminiscent of a prison, the bowl appears to be bottomless and the clock is ticking away with irritating steadfastness. But an unexpected discovery eventually makes a solution possible.

Biography
Kristián Holm was born in 1976 in Tallinn, Estonia. In 1999, he graduated from the Estonian Academy of Fine Arts with a degree in interior and furniture design. He realized several objects in public space, participated in the 2004 Venice Architecture Biennale as an ambassador for the Trojan Horse Lavatory and tried his hand at three-dimensional experiments. However, the realization that interior spaces are limited by four walls left him disillusioned. Holm’s unexpected discovery that film scenes also have four edges decided matters for him: he would change fields and dedicate the rest of his life to exploring the interrelationships of film images and walls. In 2007 he began a master’s course in the animation department of the Estonian Academy of Fine Arts. Little Maja, his first animated film, was finished in 2008.

Credits
Country: Estonia
Year: 2009
Director: Kristjan Holm
Animation: Kristjan Holm
Editor: Kristjan Holm
Production Format: PNG
Color
Length: 4:22 min.
Screening Format: 16:9
University: Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn


Elen Lotman, Three Bananas 


Synopsis
It’s the year 1989. Paula is six years old. She has been standing at the window of the family’s summer cottage for a while, waiting for her mother. And she has good reason for waiting so anxiously. Her Mother has gone to town to buy bananas. Bananas! Paula has never seen a banana before, but she knows that they taste guh-reat...

Biography
Elen Lotman studied photography and cinematography at the Tallinn Pedagogical University’s film department. Since her graduation she has been working as a cinematographer for feature films and documentaries. In 2007 she shot her first feature film.
Three Bananas was inspired by Elen’s childhood in Soviet Estonia. While working on the film, Elen gave birth to her first child Helina, to whom this film is dedicated.

Credits
Country: Estonia
Year: 2009
Director: Elen Lotman, Marion Undusk
Cinematographer: Elen Lotman
Editor: Elen Lotman
Production Format: Redraw
Color
Length: 10:00 min.
Screening Format: Beta, 16:9
School: Baltic Film and Media School, Tallinn

Germany

Ester Amrami, HaYoreh - First Rain

Synopsis

November 1989 in Kfar Saba, a small town in Israel. A long summer without rain is coming to an end. The film shows a day in the life of Noa, a ten-year-old girl. She is annoyed with her best friend, her mother and her baby sister. Her father is sick and in bed. The only thing she can hear from his room is the voice of the newsreader on the radio. Noa hopes that the evening will bring the first rain.

Biography
Ester Amrami was born in 1979 in Kfar Saba, Israel. She has been living in Berlin since 2003 and started studying film directing at HFF Potsdam in 2006.

Credits
Country: Germany
Year: 2009
Director: Ester Amrami
Writer: Momme Peters, Ester Amrami
Cinematographer: Dror Dayan
Editor: Zlem Konuk
Production Format: XDCAM HD
Color
Length: 18:00 min.
Screening Format: Digi Beta, 16:9
School: Film and Television Academy (HFF) "Konrad Wolff", Potsdam-Babelsberg



Ulrich Aschenbrenner, Caucasian Castling

Synopsis
In 1989, two communities in the Caucasus swapped villages. At the time ethnic Armenians lived in the village of Kerkendj in Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijanis lived in the village of Kyzyl-Shafag in Armenia, which was later renamed Dyunashogh. During the violent conflict that erupted over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a feeling of insecurity began to rise in both of these minority communities. They decided to swap their villages, 400 km from each other. Collectively, both communities packed up and moved to the other village in the other country.

Biography
Ulrich Aschenbrenner studied psychology and media studies in Trier and Berlin. Since graduating, he has been working as an editor for documentary and feature films, both for the cinema and for television. He set up his own production company Mimikry Film to realize his own film projects.

Credits
Country: Germany
Year: 2009
Director: Ulrich Aschenbrenner
Cinematographer: Nikola Wyrwich
Editor: Alex Zagorski
Production Format: HDV
Color
Length: 15:50 min.
Screening Format: Mini-DV, 16:9
School: TU Berlin


Israel

Hilla Lavie, Friedrichshain 

Synopsis
The history of a trendy Berlin neighborhood is told through the eyes of local witnesses. Small personal memories unfold a story of dramatic changes, violence and war – the story of 20th Century Germany, condensed into this old working-class district.

Biography
Hilla Lavie is an Israeli film director. She currently studies towards an MFA in the Film and Television Department at Tel Aviv University. Her first short fiction film Berlin (2007) was screened at festivals around the world. Her short documentary film Café Europa (2008) was shown on Channel 8, an Israeli TV channel. Also in 2008, Lavie realized the short film House Project with a grant from the German Government. Her short documentary film The Slit was screened at the DocAviv International Film Festival in Tel Aviv (2009).
.
Information
Country: Israel
Year: 2009
Director: Hilla Lavie
Cinematographer: Oren Lavie
Editor: Oren Lavie
Production Format: DV
Color
Length: 15:00 min.
Screening Format: Beta
School: Tel Aviv University


Yaron Dahan, The Lives and Times of Abraham Kahn

Synopsis
Abraham Kahn was born by the side of a dirt road in a nameless Silesian town. A wandering Jew, the dust of noplace was in his bones. Abraham lives the history of 20th Century Europe. He joins the Red Baron, fights in the International Brigades, and makes it into space. Over his 100 winters, Abraham lives through five wars, several revolutions, and three wives. A photo story telling the history of a continent through the eyes and memories of one man.

Biography
Yaron Dahan was born in Jerusalem, but spent his childhood in the suburbs of New York. After living in Paris and Prague for several years, Yaron moved to Israel to study cinema, where he is now completing his degree. Yaron has worked as a freelance writer, lecturer, MBA consultant, office lackey, and as a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. He currently lives in Tel Aviv. Although he will probably move on again, he has found some sort of home in filmmaking.

Credits
Country: Israel
Year: 2009
Director: Yaron Dahan
Editor: Guy Carmeli
Production Format: Digital format made from still images
Color
Length: 18:19 min.
Screening Format: Beta SP, 4:3
School: Beit Berl College of Arts



Latvia

Inga Zinovjeva, Forget-Me-Not

Synopsis
How deeply rooted is the fear of a new war in our subconscious, and which role does information technology play in this context? How easy is it to effectively manipulate millions of people by referring to their past with the help of information technologies? Mara is waiting for her boyfriend Andrejs when a declaration of war is unexpectedly reported on television.

Biography
Inga Zinovjeva was born in 1984 in Siauliai, Lithuania. From 1996 to 1999, she attended Ogre Art School. From 2002 to 2006, she studied at the Riga School of Art and Design. Since 2006, she has been studying Visual Arts at the Latvian Academy of Fine Arts. Inga Zinovjeva was an actress in the short films Arkans XV (2008) and Tuksums (2007). Forget-Me-Not is her first own project.

Credits
Country: Latvia
Year: 2009
Director: Inga Zinovjeva, Aleksandrs Solis Rusevics
Cinematographer: Aleksandrs Grebnevs
Editor: Aleksandrs Solis Rusevics
Production Format: HDV
Color
Length: 14:23 min.
Screening Format: DVD, 16:9
School: Latvian Academy of Arts, Riga



Janis Jurkovskis, Where the Fire Lies

Synopsis
Three children from Karosta (“War Port”) watch a destroyed bridge being rebuilt. The completion of the project not only means the fall of the boundary between Liepaja and the former military base of Karosta, it also heralds the beginning of a new era which will change the children’s lives.
As the children wait for summer, it remains unclear whether the bridge will be finished or whether the light of the family might be extinguished. Because, not unlike the construction of the bridge, not everything in the children’s everyday lives is going according to plan.

Biography
Janis Jurkovskis was born in 1987 in Latvia. He graduated from the Baltic Film and Media School with a specialization in audiovisual media. He has participated in several international feature and documentary films, music videos and news format productions, working mostly as director or cinematographer. His documentary film Photographer about Latvian photographer Leonids Tugalevs was selected for the “Sleepwalkers” International Student Film Festival in Tallinn in 2008. The film The Visitor, directed by Robi Upin (Estonia) and shot by Janis, was awarded the Prize for Best International Film at the 5thh International Film School Festival in Porto. Janis also participated in the Berlinale Talent Campus workshops held in 2009. As a documentary filmmaker Janis is interested in the driving forces of people who are affected by an everyday struggle or a conflict. For Janis, documentary is all about the emotions and how they are brought across to the viewer.

Credits
Country: Latvia
Year: 2009
Director: Janis Jurkovskis
Cinematographer: Maksim Golomidov
Editor: Kaspar Kallas
Production Format: Si 2k, 2.35:1
Color
Length: 16:00 min.
Screening Format: Mini-DV,16:9
School: Baltic Film and Media School, Tallinn


Lithuania

Darius Jaruševičius / Inna Šilina, The Tulle Curtain

Synopsis
A light tulle curtain with a pattern of nuclear mushroom clouds divides the space in two parts. Different metamorphoses happen to the tulle: it is an iron gate for a poet, a bridal veil for a tank, a barricade for cannons, an ice-fishing place for fishermen from both sides. After teletypewriter paper bands attack from both sides, the nuclear mushroom starts to grow, but in the end it transforms itself into a balloon and the tulle curtain melts. The wooden rings stay dangling on the cornice, chattering nervously, trying to find the tulle curtain again.

Biographies
Darius Jaruševičius, who wrote and animated the film, was born in Vilnius, Lithuania. He graduated from J. Vienozinskis Art School in 2004. His first animated short Stop. The kiss was released in 2007. In 2008, his film was shown at the Rimini (Italy) and Tindirindis (Lithuania) animation festivals. In 2008 he shot and edited the animated short film The New Life of the Crystal. Since 2009, he has been a student at the animation department of the Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts.

Inna Šilina, who directed and animated the film, was born in Chita, Russia. She holds an MA in Russian Literature from Vilnius University. In 2004 she trained as a radio journalist with Deutsche Welle and in 2006 she trained as a business journalist with Reuters. In 2008, she directed the animated short The New Life of the Crystal. Since 2009, she has been studying animation at J. Vienozinskis Art School.

Credits
Country: Lithuania
Year: 2009
Director: Inna Šilina
Animation: Darius Jaruševičius, Inna Šilina
Cinematographer: Darius Jaruševičius
Editor: Darius Jaruševičius
Production Format: Beta SP
Color
Length: 06:59 min.
Screening Format: Beta SP, 4:3
School: Vilnius Academy of Arts

Poland

Beata and Justyna Calińska, The Conductor

Synopsis
An orchestra is founded in a small village, but the conductor soon finds out that even music has its limits.

Biographies
Beata Calińska currently studies media management at the Lodz National Film School as well as anthropology and cultural anthropology at Lodz University. Her studies are funded by a grant from the Polish Ministry of Education. Beata Calińska studied arts, humanities and social sciences at City College Norwich and is the winner of a competition organized by the Stefan Batory Foundation. She loves to meet new people and explore cities she does not yet know.

Justyna Calińska currently studies cinematography at the Lodz National Film School. She was appointed an Ambassador of Culture by the governor of the Lodz voivodship and won the Award of the Melchior Wańkowicz School of Journalism in Warsaw in a competition organised by the Polish educational magazine Perspectives. Justyna Calińska is the recipient of a grant from the Polish Journalists’ Association for excellence in both developing her skills and realizing her ideas. She studied Moving Image at City College Norwich in England and won the first prize in a national literature competition. Documentary film is Justyna Calińska’s greatest passion, but she also loves animals and travelling.

Credits
Country: Poland
Year: 2009
Director: Justyna Calińska, Beata Calińska
Cinematographer: Justyna Calińska
Editor: Justyna Calińska
Production Format: Mini-DV
Color
Length: 9:20 min.
Screening Format: Mini-DV, 16:9
School: National Film, Television and Theater School (PWSFTviT), Lodz


Roman Przylipiak, The Drive

Synopsis
Warsaw in April 2009. On a sunny morning, a German woman gets into a taxi. The driver strikes up a conversation with his passenger. In the course of their conversation, which starts out friendly enough, the two inevitably find themselves discussing the German-Polish relationship. Warsaw in the spring and two people from different generations with different nationalities and different sensitive spots.

Biography
Roman Przylipiak is a director and photographer. He studied at the Lodz National Film School (PWSFTviT) and the Warsaw, Gdansk and Poznan art schools. Roman Przylipiak won a special prize for his short film The Documentary at the Independent Polish Film Festival Wydmy in Gdansk in 2000. His video Silence by Black River was nominated in the category Cinematography at the Yach Film Festival, also in Gdansk. As a photographer, he was awarded the first prize for his Romeo and Juliet project (together with Mariusz Filipowicz) at the Amsterdam International Student Photography Competition in 2001.

Credits
Country: Poland
Year: 2009
Director: Roman Przylipiak
Cinematographer: Grzegorz Ruzik
Editor: Roman Przylipiak
Production Format: HD
Color
Length: 11:42 min.
Screening Format: Digi-Beta, 16:9
School: National Film, Television and Theater School (PWSFTviT), Lodz

Russia

Ksenia Udodova, Pride without Prejudice?

Synopsis
In every Russian town there will always be teenagers ready to fight either for the “purity of the Russian nation” or against racial prejudice. Their aim is a better future for their children, and they are not afraid to pay the ultimate price for that.

Biography
Ksenia Udodova was born on 24 January 1988 in Perm. In 2005, she graduated from secondary school and started studying journalism at the Perm State University’s School of Philology. Parallel to her journalism studies, she is also taking a correspondence course in law at the same university. Udodova has been examining the problem of Russian nationalism and youth subculture since 2005. In her spare time, she practices martial arts and volunteers for social projects. Pride without Prejudice? is her directorial debut.

Credits
Country: Russia
Year: 2009
Director: Ksenia Udodova
Cinematographer: Aleksey Gyshchin
Editor: Sergey Proskuriakov
Production Format: Mini-DV
Color
Length: 15:00 min.
Screening Format: Mini-DV, 16:9
School: Perm State University


Anastasia Kopylova, Behind the Wall

Synopsis
A man and a woman live their lives separated by a wall and do not know of each other’s existence. He imagines a wonderful city behind the wall and tries desperately to get to it. To her, however, the wall is no obstacle. She lives in harmony with her surroundings. Then, one day the wall comes down...

Biography
Anastasia Kopylova was born on 7 February 1983 in Nishniy Tagil. In 2000, she began studying sociology at Ural State University. After graduating, she moved to St. Petersburg, where she has been studying TV direction at the University of Cinema and Television since then. Her hobbies are photography and travelling.


Credits
Country: Russia
Year: 2009
Director: Anastasia Kopylova
Animation: Anastasia Kopylova
Cinematographer: Anton Drozdov
Editor: Evgeny Stepanov
Production Format: DV PAL
Color
Length: 7:40 min.
Screening Format: Mini-DV, 16:9
School: St. Petersburg State University of Cinema and Television


Ukraine

Aron-Egal, Squared Love

Synopsis
This is a squared love story about two squares and their squared love in the squared world...

Biography
I was born. Thank you Mom and Dad! Then I learned. Thank you, teachers! Then I decided to make movies. Thank you David Lynch, Jan Svankmaier and Yuriy Norshteyn! Then I made this movie. Thank you... Well, it’s already in the credits. And finally: thank YOU for reading this!

Credits
Country: Ukraine
Year: 2009
Director: Aron-Egal
Animation: Aron-Egal
Editor: Aron-Egal
Production Format:
Color
Length: 3:52 min.
Screening Format: Beta SP


Svyatoslav Fekhtel, The Sacristan

Synopsis
After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kurt Wechslender decided to emigrate to the home of his forefathers, Germany. The reason was clear: During WWII, the communist regime had his parents shot, put his grandparents in a camp and took his first and last name from him because of his German ancestry. In the end, however, Kurt stayed, because he found the meaning of his life and a home in Ukraine, thanks to the rebirth of Lutheran church. He became a sacristan.

Biography
Svyatoslav Fekhtel was born on 30 October 1962 in the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia. From 1984 to 1988, he studied stage and screen acting at the University for Theater, Film and Television in Kiev, and from 1994 to 2002 he studied theology in Russia, Romania and Argentina, graduating with a master’s degree in theology from ISEDET, the Instituto Superior Evangélico de Estudios Teológicos in Buenos Aires, Argentina. On 3 March 1996, he was ordained a minister of the Lutheran Church in Russia and the Ukraine. In 2008, he took up studying television directing at the Kiev University for Theater, Film and Television.

Credits
Country: Ukraine
Year: 2009
Director: Svyatoslav Fekhtel
Cinematographer: Konstantin Koval
Editor: Aleksander Litvinenko
Production Format: Mini DV
Color
Length: 15:00 min.
Screening Format: Mini DV, 16:9
School: Karpenko-Kariy National University of Theatre, Cinema and TV in Kiev

Production Year

2009

Available Media

DVD

DVD

Subtitles

German (de), English (en), Russian (ru)

Note on the Format

Originalfassung, mit englischen Untertiteln, mit russischen Untertiteln, mit deutschen Untertiteln