Ohne diese Welt

Without this World
Argentina, 2016. In a forgotten corner of the country’s hot northern region there are around 700 ethnic German Mennonites living life as though it were still the eighteenth century. This community speaks Old Low German and lives off the land and by breeding cattle. They use horse carts instead of cars and their only schoolbooks are the Bible and the Catechism. Their religion forbids the use of electricity, telephones or radios. Life, they believe, should not be comfortable. Instead the colony chooses to pursue a way of life that is as pious as possible in the service of God, in the hope that their children will decide to continue on this path. These Mennonites seek to shut out the influence of the ‘world’ as they describe everything outside their religious community. This is also the reason why they moved here from Mexico 18 years ago. But is it possible to deny all forms of progress? Ohne diese Welt observes life in a quietist society caught between isolation and change.
by Nora Fingscheidt Germany 2017 German, Spanish 115’ Colour Documentary form

Crew

Director Nora Fingscheidt
Cinematography Yunus Roy Imer
Editing Stephan Bechinger
Music John Gürtler
Sound Design Jonathan Schorr
Sound Bernhard Köpke
Commissioning Editor Burkhard Althoff
Producer Peter Hartwig, Juliane S. Engel, Leonie Pokutta
Co-Production Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg Ludwigsburg
ZDF – Das kleine Fernsehspiel Mainz

Produced by

Kineo Filmproduktion

Nora Fingscheidt

Born in Braunschweig, Germany in 1983, she spent her schooldays in Germany and Argentina. Since 2003, she has been involved in the development of the film school collective, filmArche, in Berlin, at the same time completing training as an acting coach. Between 2008 and 2017 she studied fiction directing at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg. She was nominated for the German Short Film Award for her second-year film Synkope and participated in Berlinale Talents in 2012. She completed her degree with the documentary Ohne diese Welt which won awards including the Max Ophüls Prize in 2017.

Filmography

2010 Synkope; short film 2011 Zwischen den Zeilen; short film 2013 Brüderlein; medium-length film 2014 Boulevard’s End; short documentary 2016 Die Lizenz; short film 2017 Ohne diese Welt; documentary 2019 Systemsprenger (System Crasher)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020