The documentary - still in progress - deals with the existential fact that no one chooses the conditions into which he or she is born. That history is not something that simply passes by on the outside, but something that reaches into life itself— into everyday routines, into relationships, into bodies and language. This is told through the example of the family of Eduard Erdmann, a then-famous pianist who fell into obscurity after the war. It's a family whose life unfolds between 1933 and 1945 high up in the North of Germany near the danish border. In a time when the private sphere is constantly permeated by the political. In a totalitarian society in which even the seemingly small gestures of everyday life stand under the shadow of violence.

After World War II, puppeteer Karl Kalden performed the fairy tale Der Gevatter Tod (Godfather Death) in northern Hesse. His son, Gerhard Kalden, a photographer and experimental archaeologist, rediscovered the puppets and the script after a long time in old suitcases. The film shows the hand puppets in the context of his own life. There is the farm that has fallen out of time, the ruined barn that was to become a puppet stage, alongside bones and animal skulls. The film weaves the various rooms and objects into a narrative about vanishing, loneliness, and memories of his own father. Why Karl Kalden chose to perform Der Gevatter Tod shortly after the war can only be guessed at based on his own family history.

A Totem symbolizes identity and the human-nature connection. REI is a portrait of Düsseldorf’s lifeline - the river Rhein. The video installation represents transformation and the natural water cycle. REI originates from the Indo-European “rei” - meaning to flow/to stream.