Olanda

A rampant mycelium. A starry sky above Romania’s Carpathian mountains. These first two images define the dimensions of Olanda: Details and fine structures on the one hand, constellations and the vast whole on the other. The film revolves around a seasonal product of the local area – the mushroom – and mainly stays with those who collect it, with the humans to whom it comes closest, on the forest paths, in tents, on car journeys and in conversation. From here, it keeps on branching out like so many rhizomes, following each new pathway, all of which relate to money: to local and international traders, to an improvised shoe market in a clearing, to gambling among colleagues. The film narrates these industrial cycles by taking on a mushroom-like structure itself, without ever losing its theoretical centre along the way. This is not only an analysis of economic structures, but the sensual document of the rhythm of daily life in the forest as experienced by the mushroom collectors, the first link in the supply chain. In the cinema, it becomes an audiovisual mushroom trip into the magical world of the Carpathians.
by Bernd Schoch Germany 2019 Romanian 154’ Colour Documentary form

Crew

Director Bernd Schoch
Screenplay André Siegers
Cinematography Simon Quack
Editing Bernd Schoch
Music Thomas Weber
Sound Design Roman Vehlken
Sound Orest Skakun
Producers Karsten Krause, Frank Scheuffele

Bernd Schoch

Born in Ettlingen in 1971, studied Media Art at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design. He lives and works as a freelance filmmaker in Hamburg.

Filmography

2004 Nachtwache, 15. September; musik video, Kammerflimmer Kollektief 2005 Slide Guitar Ride; 80 min. 2006 Onset/Offset; 77 min. 2007 Casinoul Poporuliu; Mixed Media Installation, with Heiko Sievers · Brand New World – Stufe 1; with Holger Lauinger 2011 Aber das Wort Hund bellt ja nicht; 48 min. 2014 Kurze Ecke; 95 min. 2015 Zurück zum Beton (Version); musik video, Kammerflimmer Kollektief 2018 Action 1 Lucid, Imperial Beach; musik video, Kammerflimmer Kollektief · Vor der Sperre; 83 min. 2019 Olanda

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2019