Dieser Film ist ein Geschenk (OmeU)

Akin to a part song, Anja Salomonowitz’s tender approach to artist Daniel Spoerri is arranged for several voices. The first is the artist himself, a fascinating man of multiple talents. The film mainly focuses on his work with objects, his so-called snare pictures. Those pictures are also the second voice as the film uses them to create an idea of resurrection. Cycles are renewed, life begins again. The third voice belongs to Salomonowitz’s dead father and the act of mourning that loss. The fourth voice belongs to her son Oskar, who re-enacts statements by Spoerri. The fifth voice is connected to the pogrom in Romania during World War II. Spoerri, who comes from a Jewish family, lost his father in that time. Largely shot at Spoerri’s workshop, the film connects all these voices and has them overlap, finding a beautiful way of illustrating both how to reach out and greater selfunderstanding. Resurrection, the film tells us, is possible when one finds a way to accept death. There are films as letters, films as songs, films as poems but one rarely hears about films as being gifts. Salomonowitz gifts us an understanding of how beautiful and necessary it can be to give a film as a present. (Patrick Holzapfel)

In the presence of Anja Salomonowitz.