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ARCHIVE

3rd(2001)



Once There Was a Wild Water Sprite

Claudia von Alemann

  • Germany
  • 2000
  • 43min
  • Beta
  • color

SYNOPSIS

Once There Was a Wild Water Spirite is a documentary that interweaves director Claudia von Alemann¡¯s family history and the history of Nazi Germany. Alemann¡¯s mother, Alemann, and her daughter all appear in this documentary where daughter and granddaughter ask about and listen to the mother/grandmother¡¯s experiences under the Nazi regime. The director¡¯s mother, Ludmilla, goes back with her daughter and granddaughter to Thuringia, Seebach, the village in the former German Democratic Republic where she lived during Hitler¡¯s regime, and recollects the past. The film explains Nazism from a point of view that was seldom shown until now. Most of the Germans at that time, including Ludmilla, supported and upheld Hitler¡¯s nationalist socialism. The granddaughter weeps because of her grandmother, who expressed support for Hitler¡¯s rule and the oppression of others by not resisting and remaining silent. The film lets us reflect on how simply having lived in the principal offending nation in the war itself, one is not free from the judgement of history, and how it burdens later generations with guilt and shame. (Kim Seon-A)

PROGRAM NOTE

Once There Was a Wild Water Spirite is a documentary that interweaves director Claudia von Alemann¡¯s family history and the history of Nazi Germany. Alemann¡¯s mother, Alemann, and her daughter all appear in this documentary where daughter and granddaughter ask about and listen to the mother/grandmother¡¯s experiences under the Nazi regime. The director¡¯s mother, Ludmilla, goes back with her daughter and granddaughter to Thuringia, Seebach, the village in the former German Democratic Republic where she lived during Hitler¡¯s regime, and recollects the past. The film explains Nazism from a point of view that was seldom shown until now. Most of the Germans at that time, including Ludmilla, supported and upheld Hitler¡¯s nationalist socialism. The granddaughter weeps because of her grandmother, who expressed support for Hitler¡¯s rule and the oppression of others by not resisting and remaining silent. The film lets us reflect on how simply having lived in the principal offending nation in the war itself, one is not free from the judgement of history, and how it burdens later generations with guilt and shame. (Kim Seon-A)

Director

  • Claudia von AlemannClaudia von Alemann

    Claudia von Alemann is the director of several feature-length films and numerous documentaries. She has made four documentaries dealing with the times before and after the war in 1945, after the German reunification in the Thuringian village of Seebach. The three previous films, Thuringian Triology were invited to many international festivals.

Credit

  • Screenwriter Claudia von Alemann
  • Cinematography Max Rheinlander
  • Editor Margit Bauer
  • Music Alvin Curran
  • Sound Volker Koster