Goethe-Kino (Cinema Screening)
An intimate portrait of two trans teenagers who fled Syria with their familiy and find themselves in a constant conflict between cultures as they search for their own identity.
They sit outside on a bench putting on make-up. There is a bit of competition going on. Whose make-up is better? Then they get on the train, quickly get changed in the station toilet and they are ready for a night of clubbing. Lohan and Samar are transgender women; they are siblings and part of a large Muslim family who have fled the war in Syria. They now live with their mother Zuhur and father Talib, his second wife Shaharazad and nine younger siblings in a home for refugees in Stuttgart. It is a limited life, but for Lohan and Samar it offers the chance to fulfill their wish to live as women, which would not have been possible in Syria. But it is not easy for their parents to understand this wish, even though they love their children and are glad they are safe from persecution.
The directors Laurentia Genske and Robin Humbold accompanied the siblings and their family for over four years, witnessing Lohan and Samar's self-discovery in a new country and in their new gender. They accompany them to therapy sessions, medical examinations and visits to the authorities. But they also get very close to their family and their everyday lives and thoughts. The result is an intimate, sometimes sad, sometimes humorous film about two complex lives suspended between desires and obstacles.
Germany 2021, 89 mins. With English subtitles.
Directed by Laurentia Genske and Robin Humbold.
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Laurentia Genske was born in Cologne in 1989, where she studied documentary film and camera at the Academy of Media Arts (KHM) from 2010 to 2016. As part of a KHM scholarship, she completed a year of study at the International Film School in Cuba (EICTV) in 2012. There she shot the footage for the short documentary El Manguito, about Cuban black market traders, which she completed in 2017. (…)
Also during her studies, Genske realized the feature-length documentary Am Kölnberg (2014), about the high-rise housing estate of the same name in Cologne, together with Robin Humboldt. The film was awarded the HDF (Haus des Dokumentarfilms Stuttgart) sponsorship prize at the German Documentary Film Award and won the BildKunst Schnittpreis at the Cologne festival Filmplus. Genske's second feature-length film Afuera (2015) premiered at the Leipzig DOK Fest and was invited to other renowned festivals.
In 2017, she completed the short film El Manguito (2017), which won the 3sat Förderpreis at the Oberhausen Short Film Festival. The following year, together with Robin Humboldt, she began shooting the long documentary Zuhurs Töchter (Zuhur's Daughters). Three years later, in April 2021, the film celebrated its world premiere at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto, Canada. A month later, it won the main Viktor prize at the Munich DOK.fest. The film was released in cinemas in November 2021. (Source: filmportal.de, edited)
Robin Humboldt, born 1986 in Cologne, studied documentary and feature film directing at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM) from 2007 to 2014. During these years he realized several short fiction films and documentaries, some of which screened at international festivals. He made his feature film debut with his graduation film Am Kölnberg (2014), which he realized together with Laurentia Genske; the documentary about the notorious Cologne high-rise housing estate Am Kölnberg was awarded the HDF (Haus des Dokumentarfilms) sponsorship prize at the German Documentary Film Award in 2015 and received the BildKunst editing prize at the Cologne festival Filmplus.
In 2016, he received the Gerd Ruge Fellowship from the Film and Media Foundation NRW for the development of his next feature-length documentary Zuhurs Töchter (Zuhur's Daugthers). Filming began in May 2018 and once again, Humboldt worked with Laurentia Genske. (….) Three years later, in April 2021, the film celebrated its world premiere at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto, Canada. A month later, it won the main Viktor prize at the Munich DOK.fest. The film was released in cinemas in November 2021. (Source: filmportal.de, edited)
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