The Homes We Carry

Synopsis

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 the Afro-German mother Sarah. She wants her little daughter to have the relationships she lacked as a child. Therefore she travels with her to Africa, where her own father and the child's father are waiting for her. Meanwhile, Sarah's father Eulidio remembers the almost forgotten history of the Mozambican contract workers in East Germany. [Film Five GmH]

Hammer and compass in Mozambique. We see a GDR flag waved at a rally in Maputo, carried by “Madgermanes”, contract workers who once toiled in eastern Germany. Some of them founded families there, like Eulidio. His daughter Sarah grows up with her mother in Berlin. The relationship with her “second home” is slow in growing, partly thanks to Luana, Sarah’s baby, whose father Eduardo is also from Mozambique.

Eulidio still remembers the Lubmin nuclear power plant. Today he fries chips in Springs, South Africa. Meanwhile, Sarah only knew her father from a photo for the longest time: rather cool-looking, wearing a cap. She met him for the first time when she was eleven and felt how comfortable she was surrounded by people whose skin is as dark as hers. As an adult woman she decides to spend some time in Mozambique – and meets Eduardo. On the flight back she’s pregnant. This documentary observation by Brenda Akele Jorde deals with Sarah’s attempt to weave together and spin out threads that were torn by the fall of communism. And it shows the challenges this brings: While Sarah is confronted with racism in Germany, in Africa she’s regarded as a German. While once her father Eulidio was expelled after the fall of the Berlin Wall, now it’s Eduardo who sees his daughter only sporadically. [65 DOK Leipzig, Carolin Weidner]

Festivals/awards

2022
65 DOK Leipzig
Nominated for Leipziger Ring, VER.DI Prize for Solidarity, Humanity and Fairness, DEFA Sponsoring Prize, Young Eyes Film Award
2023
45 Films de Femmes, Creiteil
30 Hot Docs, Toronto
Secial Mention Ecumenical Jury – Achtung Berlin FF
sehnsüchte – Int. Student FF
Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Festival

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