Auslandsreise

Foreign Travel
In his fourth feature, Ted Fendt once again creates a portrait of a set of people linked together by friendship. At its heart is Leonie, who spends a year going through the texts of Anna Maria Ortese. A loose reading group consisting of Florian, Alejo and Hanna joins her in her endeavour. Different seasons and thoughts duly unfold around Berlin’s Chamissoplatz. Fendt shines a spotlight on many small narratives and allows fleeting moments to manifest, captured on 16mm stock at once glowing and matter-of-fact. Florian looks for a flat without success, Alejo has moved from Argentina to Berlin, Hanna is soon to be a mother. Anna Maria Ortese’s books form vanishing points that simultaneously function as an invitation to reflect: Who likes to be led up the garden path by literature? How do realism and fantasy merge? In the meantime, a long conversation between Leonie and Ortese translator Sigrid Vagt becomes the film’s centrepiece, making the mysterious author tangible and spurring Leonie on. Auslandsreise shows a search that takes place in cafés and courtyards, in sentences both spoken and written. Everyday life and literature intertwine. A distillation of life.
by Ted Fendt (Director, Screenplay), Leonie Rodrian (Screenplay)
with Leonie Rodrian, Florian Model, Alejo Franzetti, Hanna Döring, Mia Sellmann, Sigrid Vagt
Germany 2026 German, Italian, French 63' Colour World premiere

With

  • Leonie Rodrian
  • Florian Model
  • Alejo Franzetti
  • Hanna Döring
  • Mia Sellmann
  • Sigrid Vagt

Crew

Director Ted Fendt
Screenplay Ted Fendt, Leonie Rodrian
Cinematography Jenny Lou Ziegel
Editing Ted Fendt
Sound Design Jan Pasemann
Casting Ted Fendt
Producers Ted Fendt, Hans Broich
Executive Producers Hans Broich, Ted Fendt

Produced by

Superzoom Film

Berlin, Germany

Ted Fendt

Ted Fendt is a filmmaker, translator and projectionist born in Philadelphia, PA. Between 2012 and 2018, he made a series of short and long narrative films in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area with local, non-professional casts, funded by his work as a projectionist in New York City. Since 2018, he has resided in Berlin, where he has made three films to date.

Filmography

2012 Broken Specs; short film 2013 Travel Plans; short film 2015 Going Out; short film 2016 Short Stay; Berlinale Forum 2016 2018 Classical Period; Berlinale Forum 2018 2021 Outside Noise 2023 Unglückliche Stunde (Unhappy Hour); short film 2026 Auslandsreise (Foreign Travel)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2026