My Strange Homeland

“We know Manuel from our studies at the Film Academy. We spent days and nights together in the editing room - he as editor, we as directors. The idea for this film came from Manuel himself. It’s not in him to be in the limelight. Manuel is rather the involuntary protagonist of a story he wanted to make possible. And there is another reason: He was missing something to really tackle this difficult journey. The filming of his story, the search as a film project that gave him the necessary distance to face the emotional challenges. The project evolved out of Manuel’s trust in us to tell the story appropriately and unadorned. Time and time again, we’ve heard from Manuel about how happy he is to be living his dreams in Germany. Life in Germany should be a given for Manuel. But it isn’t. We didn’t really understand why until after the trip.”