Olanda

Lagerfeuer und Stirnlampen, morgendliche Gebete und viele Zigaretten vor improvisierten Zelten – die Schlafstellen der Pilzsammler in den rumänischen Karpaten erinnern ikonisch an die Goldgräbercamps früherer Tage. Wie diese gehören sie gleichermaßen zur Peripherie wie zum geldwerten Zentrum einer durchkapitalisierten Welt, in der jeder Zentimeter Boden ausgebeutet sein will. Zwischenhändler in ausgemusterten deutschen Fischlastern liefern Brot und Bier und erklären die Marktgesetze. Immersive, trittstarke Hommage an jene unfreiwilligen Waldgänger, denen selbst der Pope für eine Beichte 20 Kilo Pfifferlinge abknöpft. (Stephan Settele)

In Anwesenheit von Bernd Schoch und André Siegers.

“60 days of waking up at 3am.” Such is the summer for many people in the Carpathian region of Romania. They are gatherers, and when the season comes, they swarm the forests to look for mushrooms and berries. For people who are better off, foraging has become something like a desirable activity – an epitome of slow food. But for the protagonists of Bernd Schoch’s documentary, many of them members of the local Roma minorities, the hunt for first rate boletus is their way to make a living: an ancient way of doing so, according to the woman in voiceover. OLANDA is not just about “commerce”, even if this is certainly a key point of interest. It is also a case study about modernization, albeit more indirectly: we understand that the gatherers follow in the footsteps of their ancestors who used to do exactly the same. But nowadays the trade has become more institutionalized: there are fees and fines, there is even a market as far away as Germany (which sends old sneakers and trucks in return), there is policing and competition from tourists. It’s no coincidence that the last word in Olanda is “nature” – nature gives, yet commerce takes. Olanda is a grand film about civilization as such. (Bert Rebhandl)

In the presence of Bernd Schoch and André Siegers.