The Homes We Carry
The Homes We Carry
Brenda Akele Jorde
German Competition 2022
Documentary Film
Germany
2022
89 minutes
Portuguese (Portugal),
German,
English
Subtitles: 
English
Hammer and compass in Mozambique. We see a GDR flag waved at a rally in Maputo, carried by “Madgermanes”, contract workers who once toiled in eastern Germany. Some of them founded families there, like Eulidio. His daughter Sarah grows up with her mother in Berlin. The relationship with her “second home” is slow in growing, partly thanks to Luana, Sarah’s baby, whose father Eduardo is also from Mozambique.
Eulidio still remembers the Lubmin nuclear power plant. Today he fries chips in Springs, South Africa. Meanwhile, Sarah only knew her father from a photo for the longest time: rather cool-looking, wearing a cap. She met him for the first time when she was eleven and felt how comfortable she was surrounded by people whose skin is as dark as hers. As an adult woman she decides to spend some time in Mozambique – and meets Eduardo. On the flight back she’s pregnant. This documentary observation by Brenda Akele Jorde deals with Sarah’s attempt to weave together and spin out threads that were torn by the fall of communism. And it shows the challenges this brings: While Sarah is confronted with racism in Germany, in Africa she’s regarded as a German. While once her father Eulidio was expelled after the fall of the Berlin Wall, now it’s Eduardo who sees his daughter only sporadically.
Credits
Director
Brenda Akele Jorde
Script
Brenda Akele Jorde
Cinematographer
David-Simon Groß
Editor
Laura Espinel
Producer
Florian Schewe, Miriam Henze
Co-Producer
Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, RBB Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg
Sound
Till Aldinger, Brenda Akele Jorde, André Bahule
Sound Design
Jakob Mäsel
Score
Lenna Bahule
Commissioning Editor
Rolf Bergmann
Funder
Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH
Co-Director
Malte Wandel, David-Simon Groß
Nominated for:
Leipziger Ring,
VER.DI Prize for Solidarity, Humanity and Fairness,
DEFA Sponsoring Prize,
Young Eyes Film Award