On living and dying
The documentary film ‘Stimme des Abends’ (Voice of the Evening) is set in a retirement home that is closed to the outside world due to coronavirus. The residents can only go for walks in the home’s own garden, where the blooming flowers bring back memories – what does it look like at home?
Margarethe, bent over in her wheelchair, writes letters to her granddaughter, friends and family, and in her diary she processes the heartfelt questions and complaints of the last stage of her life. Although we know that we will die, this stage of life should still have a certain quality – this is the deep concern of Mathias, the home’s director. But why are we afraid of death, and do we know what the needs of the elderly are?
Life experiences are carried into the world as resources for our society, and so the people in the film become bearers of hope in these times of distance.
‘Voice of the Evening’ – a poetic homage to people in the final stage of their lives and to all those who enable them to live with dignity.
Documentary film, 20 minutes, 2020
Languages: Swiss German, German – subtitles in German and English
Director and editor: Michelle Brun
Music: Arianna Savall and Petter Udland Johansen
Camera: Veronika Müller, Jürg Mäder
With Margarete Müller-Winter, Mathias Engler, Daniel Schmitter, Rolf Bärtsch
Voice-over: Veronika Herren
Mixing: Matthias Wenger
Colour grading: Roger Sommer
Translation: Diction AG, Philip Hotchkiss
Film graphics: Brunner & Meyer
Accompanying material graphics: Studio am Meer, Janine Peter
Production: trailblazing GmbH
ISAN: 0000-0005-BBC2-0000-F-0000-0000-T
Award
Sweden Film Award, Best Short Documentary
