Program
German workers are building a power plant near the Bulgarian-Greek border. The water resources needed for this investment are insufficient and this deficit is a major problem and a cause of conflict with the inhabitants of a nearby village. When the workers have water in abundance, the taps of the locals are dry. The Bulgarian province is a far cry from German standards and most of those who come to work here look down on their neighbours and keep contact with them – apart from crude propositioning of local women – to a necessary minimum. With one exception: Meinhard who is his own man, tries successfully to make contact with the villagers, to get to know them and, despite the language barrier, seeks understanding. The main character in Valeska Grisebach's film is curious about people and their stories, free of prejudice and open to others. But this attitude comes with consequences: his colleagues become suspicious of him and the local community does not treat him as a friend either.
Using Western conventions in a somewhat perverse way – the confrontation between civilisation and frontier settlements, natives and newcomers, a lone protagonist and an unfamiliar community – the director talks about present day conflicts, often imaginary prejudices and the difficulties in overcoming them. The film tries – as the critics of this year's New Horizons Festival in Wrocław wrote in awarding it the main prize – ‘to describe the contemporary world, marked by fear of strangers and clashes of cultures; a world in which communication between people is rough, yet achievable.’
