PHANTASIESÄTZE

Prefabricated housing blocks bearing socialist insignia stand abandoned in a landscape being reclaimed by nature. Humanity is present only in what it has left behind. Interspersed are Super 8 shots from family albums, memories of moments that once existed. Dane Komljen’s short film “Phantasiesätze” (Germany/Denmark 2017) plays out a thought experiment: what if a city consisted of nothing but traces existing side by side – and people had turned into animals or trees after a nuclear catastrophe?

The title is borrowed from an experimental text by Walter Benjamin. The 17-minute film premiered in Locarno in August 2017, where it won the Fundación Casa Wabi – Mantarraya award, and subsequently screened in Toronto and at the New York Film Festival. In 2017, “Phantasiesätze” was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in the Kurzfilm section; Dane Komljen attended as a guest.

Shown at the 2017 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2017 · Film Archive