Documentary - Germany - 2022 - 89 Minute
Description
The Homes We Carry portraits a family torn apart by the turmoil of world history between Germany, Mozambique and South Africa. At the center is Sarah, a young Afro-German mother. She wants her daughter to have the relationships she herself lacked as a child. Therefore, she travels with her to Africa, where her own father and the child's father are waiting for them. But meeting Luana's father, who suddenly has to grow up when Sarah shows up at the door with his daughter, presents both of them with great challenges. Meanwhile, Sarah's father Eulidio recalls the almost forgotten and unjust history of the Mozambican contract workers in the former GDR. In his nostalgic daydreams, he returns to the origins of his European family and their sudden separation - a fate he shares with many other German-Mozambican families. (Text source: YouTube)
Excerpted from the article by Jürgen Bürgin: avisualzine.com
https://avisualzine.com/2022/10/13/the-homes-we-carry-beim-dok-leipzig/
“During the research for the film, I met many broken and traumatized Afro-German family members who were affected by the end of the GDR. Like many others, Sarah also understands at some point that being Afro-German is not a contradiction, not wrong and unwanted, but an enrichment and a wonderful gift. Showing the story of Sarah’s family means making Afro-German identity visible and emotionally comprehensible across generations.”
With this important film, Brenda Akele Jorde succeeds in a wonderful way in pointing out an almost forgotten chapter of German-African history – and this with a personal, emotional and touching story. "As the daughter of an Afro-German couple, I’m interested in the stories and origins of other Afro-German families," says the director. “These are largely unknown or invisible in Germany. As a result, we are seen less as part of German society and are less able to feel part of it.”
Brenda Akele Jorde, born in Hamburg, studied at the University of Potsdam in Media Studies and then at the Film University at Babelsberg where she completed her final project, the feature documentary, The Homes We Carry. She had this to say about her film: “As an Afro-German director, I want to tell stories about Afro-German families, so that we can see ourselves as a part of German society. Showing the story of Sarah's family means making Afro-German identity visible and emotionally tangible across generations. Like many others, Sarah eventually understands that being Afro-German is not a contradiction, not wrong and unwanted, but an enrichment and a wonderful gift. 20,000 Mozambicans worked hard in East Germany and were cheated out of their money. This history is unjustly not part of the German cultural memory. When Sarah, the daughter of the Mozambican contract worker, recounts her experiences as a black child in East Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall, she speaks for many Afro-German children who felt very uncomfortable in their skin and struggled with their Blackness for a long time. Like many others, Sarah eventually understands that her identity is not a contradiction, but an enrichment. Telling Sarah's story means making Afro-German identity and family visible and emotionally tangible.” (Source DEFA Film Library)
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