Welt an Bord

World on Board
Germany, as seen from the water. The landscape passes by in epic tranquillity as the audience immerses itself in the world of barge shipping. The top permitted speed for smaller watercraft is specified in the inland waterways regulations as a maximum of 15 km/h. A woman is along for the ride on Germany’s rivers and canals, with plenty of time to explore this little-known cosmos. In the end, the director dreams of a life on board and endeavours to find her place in the predominantly male domain.
Welt an Bord is a hybrid of documentary and narrative film. The basic conditions are set by the limited space on the barge and the work that must be done. Kathrin Resetarits embodies the alter ego of director Eva Könnemann, while she herself takes charge of the cinematography. Together they accepted the captain’s invitation to join in this other life. What kind of life is it anyway? Resetarits/Könnemann listen and work their way through fiction and reality. Views and realities interlock. Eva Könnemann’s work explores the boundaries of the contemporary narrative with a view to reality. The downward facing dog is real.
by Eva Könnemann
with Kathrin Resetarits, Kai Wöhlke, Ron Van der Putten
Germany 2019 German 29’ Colour World premiere | Documentary form

With

  • Kathrin Resetarits (Filmmaker)
  • Kai Wöhlke (Sailor)
  • Ron Van der Putten (Skipper)

Crew

Written and Directed by Eva Könnemann
Cinematography Alexander Gheorghiu, Eva Könnemann
Editing Eva Könnemann
Sound Design Eva Könnemann

Produced by

Eva Könnemann

Eva Könnemann

Born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany in 1973, she studied at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in the 1990s and received several scholarships including from the Cité des Arts in Paris, the graduate school of the Berlin University of the Arts and working scholarships from the Berlin Senate and the Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media. Her short and feature-length films have been exhibited in both cinema and gallery contexts. Her first film to be presented in Berlinale Shorts was World on Board in 2019.

Filmography

2002 Happy Problem; short film 2003 Light Boy; short film 2006 With You; short film 2008 Die Tragöden aus der Stadt (The Tragedians of the City); short film 2010 Ensemble 2013 Material Beton (Concrete Matters); co-directors: Katja Lell, Babak Behrouz, Nick Koppenhagen, Marco Kunz, Laura Nitsch 2015 Das offenbare Geheimnis (An Apparent Secret); short film 2019 Welt an Bord (World on Board); short film 2024 That’s All from Me; short film

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2024