Farewell to Europe

“He (Stefan Zweig) had escaped the war and yet he was haunted by it. He could not stop imagining everything that was happening at the same time at the far end of the world. This empathy and this sensitivity were extraordinary human qualities that helped him achieve fame as a writer but also became his undoing in life. [...] It was intended as a film about exile, told through the example of Stefan Zweig. Zweig himself, with his Sternstunden der Menschheit wrote the most beautiful example of miniatures that suddenly reveal something larger, something transcendent. Guided by this spirit, we developed the idea of choosing six very different moments from Zweig’s life, including prologue and epilogue, to which we could devote ourselves in their complexity without having to force them into a causal context. Perhaps the time one suddenly has, the details one can then recount, creates more of an opportunity to immerse oneself in situations. Despite all the omissions, the result is an impression that is not so much broad as deep – at least we hope so.”

Maria Schrader