Walchensee Forever
March 16, 2021 at 19:00 Hrs.
Germany, color-b/w, 111 min., 2019/2020Director: Janna Ji Wonders
Genre: Documentary
Director Janna Ji Wonders tells the story of the women in her family over the last century. The film’s unifying element and silent chronicler is Lake Walchensee in Bavaria, where the family opened a café in 1920 which still exists today. Filmmaker Janna is searching for answers to questions like: What is the meaning of home? To what extent am I shaped by my origins? What really counts in the end? She finds clues in the bond between four generations of women and their very different approaches to life.
This film is a jewel. The longer you watch it, the more facets you discover. Over five generations, it portrays the women of a family in Bavaria. Supplemented by outstanding material from the family's private archives, the protagonists speak honestly, intelligently and directly to the camera. From these individual stories, an overall picture of private life in the twentieth and twenty-first century emerges. The narration remains personal and individual and develops an overwhelming impact, not least due to the unpretentious attitude of the filmmaker and her protagonists. Cleverly mounted, clearly filmed and narrated and produced with warmth of heart, we listen and watch Apa, Norma, Anna, Frauke and Janna. (Jury of the Kompass Perspectives Award)