Heimat is a Space in Time

This film pieces together excerpts from the biography of an Austro-Hungarian family that gradually disintegrated from the late 1800s throughout the 20th century. Thomas Heise, a leading German documentarist, uses a plethora of materials from his private archive—letters, photos, diaries—to weave together the story of his family over four generations. The places and landscapes mentioned in letters are photographed in the present, with all the signs of time gone by, as the film floats between first loves, fathers, mothers, siblings, pleasure, and pain. Heise’s personal narrative details and uncovers the tumultuous national narrative of modern Germany. One of the most impressive documentaries at the last Berlin FF and winner of Best Feature Film at Nyon FF.