Life at the Stream:

(1989, Peter Rocha, German Democratic Republic, 30 min, in German w/ English subtitles)

Reinhard Schmidt, a Spreewald barge driver, and his four-generation Sorbian family live at a canal in the Lusatia region. Their daily life is influenced by a strong sense of community and cultural tradition. Reinhard talks about people’s dependence on and connection with nature, as well as about the ongoing devastation of the environment by open cast mines and power stations, a taboo topic in East Germany at the time. While Reinhard’s family tries to earn their living in the rural area, many neighbors are leaving for the city.

Pouring Water on Troubled Oil:

(2023, Nariman Massoumi, United Kingdom & Iran, 26min, in English w/ English subtitles)

In 1951, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company set out to produce a Technicolour publicity film promoting its activities in Iran. They hired the renowned Welsh poet Dylan Thomas to write the film script, a little known aspect of his life. Combining colonial archival photographs with Thomas’s lyrical account (performed in voiceover by actor Michael Sheen), this documentary film follows the poet’s journey through the country, capturing his haunting vision of oil and modernity, as a political upheaval for oil nationalisation unfolds.

Location: Room 137, Isenberg School of Management