DE CORPORE MORTIS

DE CORPORE MORTIS by Rudolf Domke | Germany | 2015 | 124'

DOCUMENTARY

De Corpore Mortis describes the harsh life of a small German community of people in a remote area of Paraguay, after all dreams are shattered. It is about the will to survive and find a new home.

German, Spanish, Russian, Guarani with English subtitles

FESTIVALS

2015 Filmfest München, New German Cinema (WP)

2015 Duisburger Filmwoche

SYNOPSIS

An ethnic German colony in Paraguay is in ruins. Although the colony exists less than 10 years, the dream of a social utopia that existed in this place, belongs to the past. Nikolai Neufeld, founder of the colony, is imprisoned for economic fraud, he has 60 million euros of debt and 1,700 creditors. About 15 years ago he bought a lot of land in a remote area of Paraguay and promoted settling there aggressively. His audience was a minority in Germany, that is known as Russian-Germans, most of whom have German roots and left the former Soviet Union for Germany since the late 80's and lived there 10 to 20 years already. Neufeld's great promise was a municipal, carefree life in the rural idyll far away from all disappointments and constraints of modern civilization. Most of the houses in the colony are abandoned by now. Many families returned to Germany or tried their luck elsewhere, in other places in Paraguay, Argentina or Canada, - if they have relatives there. The film is about the people who stayed in the colony and try to survive, as self-sufficient farmers, as ranchers and missionaries. They must pay for school themselves or teach their children on their own. Those willing to integrate send their children to the Paraguayan schools in the surrounding villages. All entrepreneurial efforts have proved to be experiments that went bankrupt.

The bold vision Neufeld's to become the largest macadamia producer in the world has remained an illusion. The film is a meditation on their hard life after all dreams went down the drain. It is also about subliminal aggression within a community that is isolated, divided and feels threatened in its existence, if not willing to adapt. Many of the settlers are armed now and the will to communicate peacefully is fading more and more.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

The cow that is slaughtered, keeps alive those who consume it. A seed dies and becomes something new. An ethnic German colony in South America disintegrates and provides opportunities for new forms of existence. This film is an examination of the textures of such deaths and of what it contains within itself.

Rudolf Domke, was born 1978 in Kustanaj, former USSR (Kazakhstan). Since the age of eleven he lived in Germany. After finishing school he traveled by foot several years. Then learned the craft of a stone sculptor. Since 2008, he is a film directing student at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin, DFFB.

FILMOGRAPHY

2013 Carla

2012 Schuld und Sühne

2010 Der Vagabund

2009 Ein halber Tag im Leben eines Eichbeamten

2008 Herr Schäfer

TECHNICAL DETAILS

Country of production: Germany

Year of production: 2015

Genre: Documentary

Running time: 124 min

Screening format: DCP