STEFANIE
APPEL
SHOWREEL
Bushra. Vertrieben aus Myanmar
26 min, 2019
Portrait of a Rohingya refugee girl living in the world’s largest refugee camp: Kutupalong in Bangladesh. The film documents the life and suffering of a child who, after an exhausting escape from Myanmar, is trying to find meaning in his new life at the camp.
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Faserfarmer (Jute of Bangladesh)
43/53 min, 2023
Jute instead of plastic - the slogan is more relevant than ever. Farmers in Bangladesh make handicrafts that could help changing the world. Bangladesh is the second largest producer of jute after India. Its shimmering colour and formerly high price earned the plant the name "golden fibre". Jute was used to make fabrics for the world. But as demand fell, the once coveted fibre lost its lustre. That could change with an invention. A scientist from the capital , Dr. Mubarak Ahmad Khan, found a way to process the "golden fibre" into cheap biodegradable cellulose sheets. May it soon be possible to produce environmentally friendly bags for daily use that are made of jute, feel and look like plastic? The film follows the life of jute farmers in Northern Bangladesh at a time when they are faced with completely new challenges.
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Fatema. Das Surfergirl von Cox’s Bazar
25 min, 2017
Fatema is a young surfer in a bathing resort in Bangladesh. In the conservative south of the Muslim country this is a sensation. Locals are not happy with that at all. To their opinion „decent girls do not go into the water“ and surfing even „soils“ them. But Fatema is breaking social barriers and winning hearts with her bravery and passion.
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Vincent van Gogh Superstar
53 min, 2019
Vincent van Gogh lives in imagination, is a myth in Europe's collective cultural memory, but what is its secret? Is van Gogh a case of systematic creation of legends that has long obscured the facts? Heroes are made because you need them. The documentary analyses the "making-of" of this universally functioning painter and is a journey of discovery to the real van Gogh.
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Die Wilden Zwanziger
2 parts of 53min each, 2015
It is only a small part of European society which questions everything after the First World War and finds expression in music, art and film. But it is its crucial part. In the 1920s the course was set for a blossoming of the arts and a critical intellectual examinations - be it the Surrealists in Paris or critical minds like the writer Karl Kraus in Vienna.
Nachbeben
53 min, 2019
Longterm observation in the earthquake area in central Italy where a quake in 2016 destroyed hundreds of villages, thousands of churches. A step into the „red zones“ where Italy’s cultural heritage still is in danger.
Bibi Russell – Mode in Bangladesch
26 min, 2013
"Made in Bangladesh" stands for exploitation and disposable fashion. The Bengali fashion designer and activist Bibi Russell gives crafts people the opportunity to enhance their skills to achieve economic survival and to build a prosperous future.
Carolina. Mein Leben in Neapel
26 min, 2018
The “Rione Sanità” district is on the edge of the old town of Naples, in the south of Italy, and the home of Carolina. The nice thing here are the underground caves and the great friends of the children's orchestra “Sanitansamble”. But Carolina's neighborhood also has people who create chaos and fear: the local mafia, the Camorra.