Elder Blossom - Wellington Film Society

Elder Blossom
(Holunderblüte)
Volker Koepp | Germany | 2007

In association with the Goethe Institut.

The film tells the story of the East Prussian landscape and its inhabitants. A region steeped in history. At one time Germans, Poles, Lithuanians and Jews lived here alongside and with one another. After World War II and the expulsion of Germans by Stalin, the Prussian province turned into a Russian enclave, more important geostrategically than economically. An absurd rudiment of political power games. Volker Koepp’s fourth film about the Kaliningrad region is dedicated to the generation, born in the '90s, and familiar with the Soviet Union and East Prussia only from school books. Their present is a different one. Parents and grandparents who were forcefully resettled to where they are now have never really felt at home. In the meantime they have hopelessly succumbed to unemployment and alcohol. Their children can only rely on themselves. Older siblings look after the younger ones, they play with what lies around, and the girl Ljuda can’t wait to finally turn eighteen, to be able to take her brothers home from the orphanage.

The poems of Johannes Bobrowski are among the reasons why Koepp continuously returned to the region. In one poem he pays homage to the elderflower bushes, characterising the picture of the landscape with their delicate blooming. They are honoured as patron saints of houses and children. The architecture is largely lost and nature has commenced to regain its terrain. Everything starts to grow wild. The film has much confidence in the children. But what will become of them?

Event listed by Wellington Film Society

View their other events or contact promoter