KinoFest Prelude #2 with UP Los Baños Makiling Film Lab

As part of KinoFest Prelude, Goethe-Institut presents a day dedicated to German filmmaking at the UP Los Baños Makiling Film Lab.

The programme opens with a curated selection of short films that bring together different voices, perspectives, and periods of German cinema. The selection includes Werner Herzog’s documentary La Soufrière (1976), Betina Kuntzsch’s Himmel wie Seide. Voller Orangen (2024), and Sarnt Utamachote’s I don't want to be just a memory (2024).

The short film programme is followed by a screening of Silent Friend (2025), directed by Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi. Set in Germany, the film follows three generations whose lives are connected by a majestic ginkgo tree and explores the mysterious relationship between humans and nature.

A post-screening discussion will bring the films together and explore German film history, different approaches to filmmaking, and the changing landscape of contemporary cinema.

Feature Film
Silent Friend
Germany, Hungary, France | 2025
Director: Ildikó Enyedi
Genre: Drama
Language: German with English subtitles
Duration: 147 minutes

PLOT: In Germany, a majestic ginkgo tree witnesses three generations as they discover the hidden secrets of botanical life and are quietly changed by the mysterious power of nature.

Short Films
La Soufrière
West Germany, Guadeloupe | 1976
Director: Werner Herzog
Documentary, Short | 31 minutes

PLOT: 1976: Guadeloupe's La Soufrière volcano seems ready to erupt. Werner Herzog films the crater's edge and ghostly, evacuated towns, questioning the few residents who refused to leave. "Waiting for an Inevitable Catastrophe" – but the eruption never comes, leaving only bold miscalculation.

Himmel wie Seide. Voller Orangen
Germany | 2024
Director: Betina Kuntzsch
Documentary, Short | 10 minutes

PLOT: In the spring of 1990—between the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification—the first citizens of what was still the GDR flew to Mallorca. Mallorca was a place of longing for many East Germans, known from the colorful postcards sent by relatives in the West. Suddenly, everything seemed possible.

I don't want to be just a memory
Germany | 2024
Director: Sarnt Utamachote
Documentary, Short | 84 minutes

PLOT: Berlin's queer community mourns friends lost to substance abuse and the mental health crisis, and the disappearance of safe spaces. Sharing personal stories and honest criticism of club culture, they become like glow-in-the-dark fungi – a network of care transforming grief into support.
Registration is only open to film students at the Makiling Film Lab at UP Los Baños, and is not open to the general public.