When we get together it is usually loud. The table is set, we laugh and eat. Just like in every family. Then silence falls. Daily life returns. That’s how life goes on. This finite life. Everyone carries their experiences within. One bends under the weight. Another shares them. Some bury them deep. Everyone does the best they can. I often ask myself how we found one another in our family. What are the ties? What is all of it about?

Family Life

2017 - I am travelling to Russia with a German tour group. I take the diary of Wehrmacht soldier Buff, killed in action in 1942 when he tried to give first aid to a Russian soldier, as my travel reading. Our itinerary intersects with places where he fought. I grew up in Russia. My grandmother toiled in Stalin's camps. 2022 - the conflict that Russia's attack on Ukraine triggered in me runs through the film. The journey to Russia was characterised by encounters between people whose parents' or grandparents' had common experiences - those of the Second World War. In brief moments of rapprochement, many questions remain unanswered - especially about the purpose of war.