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Marina leaves her own family behind in Romania to earn money abroad – to look after elderly people in German households.
The film tells the story of 40-year-old Marina, played by the German-speaking Romanian actress Gina Călinoiu, who works in Germany once again as a nurse in a German private household, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The man she has been caring for over the last few months died last night, now she is sitting on the sofa in the living room waiting for the arrival of the relatives to hand over the keys. Sitting there, she talks in a monologue about her work, motivation and personal experiences. The apartment of the deceased, as a hermetic scene of everyday life and work, is not left during the entire film. The film deals with the topic in a monoperspektive, solely from the perspective of the nurse, forcing the viewer to confront his or her own position as a potential employer or carer.
with: Gina Calinoiu, Gerd Peiser, Lara Guzman Zevallos
Cast Gina Calinoiu, Gerd Peiser, Lara Guzman Zevallos
Director Julia Roesler
Skript Silke Merzhäuser/ Julia Roesler
Music Insa Rudolph
Camera/ Editor Isabel Robson
Design Lea Dietrich
Sounddesign Ansgar Frerich
Colour Grading Basis Berlin
Mastering Sönke Westphal
Dramaturg Silke Merzhäuser
Production werkgruppe2
Awards:
Golden Dove, DOK Leipzig, 2018
Healthy Workplaces Film Award for best documentary about work, EU-OSHA, DOK Leipzig, 2018
Goldener Zollstock für die beste künstlerische Einzelleistung, Wendland Shorts 2019
Funded by nordmedia – Film- und Mediengesellschaft Niedersachsen/Bremen mbH.
At the 61st International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film MARINA wins the GOLDEN Dove for Best German Short Documentary Film and the HEALTHY WORKPLACES FILM AWARD of the EU.
Jury statement:
“I like to be with people, right to the end,” she says. Marina’s open face reflects what she experiences in her exhausting everyday life as a nurse. The affection of those she prepares meals for, makes the beds for, she washes, dresses, cleans and goes shopping for. The arrogance of those who don’t look after their parents themselves and think that their low wages will buy the whole person who does most of the work they would never do in 24-hour care – especially not for this money. Marina renounces her own life with her daughter, a home that she only sees every four weeks, a job that would correspond to her higher education. Julia Roesler builds around the stories of this one and in it mirrored many Marinas by the precise reflection of all the hardships that arise from the modern slave trade with the care workers from the East, a film full of precisely set words and images that gently introduce us to what is part of our world – and much too little attention is paid to it.”
MARINA is awarded at the Wendland Shorts Filmfestival and wins the “Golden Folding Rule for the best individual artistic achievement”.
Jury statement:
“The documentary film opens up a view of large contexts, but also new stylistic paths. In this respect, our award for a special individual achievement goes to the courage of two authors to cross boundaries: between theatre and film, documentary and fiction, protagonists on the one hand and a whole choir of voices on the other. With “Marina”, Julia Roesler and Silke Merzhäuser have shown how radical reduction can bring the whole world into the cinema. “Marina” speaks of so much: life and death, joy and disgust, exploitation and humanity. The arc from banal bodily excretions to globalization as a system is breathtaking, the journey is as emotional as it is political, and it owes its existence precisely to this hybrid that we hereby distinguish. We wish the authors the courage to continue along this path.”
Festivals:
DOK Leipzig 2018
Wettbewerb deutscher kurzer Dokumentar- und Animationsfilm
Filmfest Dresden 2019
Sonderprogramm „Hybride Transzendenzen“
Busan International Short Film Festival 2019 – Wettbewerb
Finos Filmes Festival São Paulo 2019
Wendland Short 2019 – Wettbewerb
Seoul International Film Festival 2019 – Wettbewerb
FilmFest Osnabrück 2019 – Auswahl Fokus Europa
Braunschweig International Film Festival 2019
Programm Mittellange Filme
Vilnius International Short Film Festival 2020, International Competition
Festival International Signos da Noite 2020, Lissabon, International Competition
look & roll Basel 2020
Caravan Women Film Festival 2020, Cairo, Egypt
