A Film by Jonathan Schörnig. On July 20th an 21st at the fsk. In German and English with German subtitles.

[Credits] [Tickets & Termine] [Trailer]

How a sea res­cue can take place is bey­ond ima­gi­na­ti­on. The real-time docu­men­ta­ry “One Hundred Four” (German ori­gi­nal title: “Einhundertvier“) brings this dra­ma­tic situa­ti­on clo­ser. The film shows how ago­ni­s­in­gly long it takes to res­cue 104 peo­p­le from a sin­king rub­ber ding­hy. Person by per­son, step by step, the action is accom­pa­nied by seve­ral par­al­lel came­ras. The situa­ti­on comes to a head when the Libyan coast­guard appears. The res­cued peo­p­le and the crew wait for days on the high seas, as no Mediterranean coun­try allows them to dock. Only after a ter­ri­ble storm does the ship reach a European harbour.

Every year, the world’s most dan­ge­rous escape rou­te claims thou­sands of lives. In the first half of 2023 alo­ne, almost 2,000 peo­p­le died in the Mediterranean becau­se the European Union‘s bor­der poli­cy sys­te­ma­ti­cal­ly vio­la­tes exis­ting rights. Instead of hel­ping the ship­w­re­cked, Frontex car­ri­es out ille­gal push­backs, sup­ports the vio­lent actions of the Libyan coast­guard and mas­si­ve­ly com­bats pri­va­te sea res­cue mis­si­ons that inter­ve­ne whe­re the EU fails. Despite media evi­dence, it remains incom­pre­hen­si­ble to tho­se who have not expe­ri­en­ced this situa­ti­on them­sel­ves: why are hundreds of peo­p­le in mor­tal dan­ger being denied help and the civi­li­an hel­pers even threa­ten­ed and criminalised?

Jonathan Schörnig was affec­ted by the dilem­ma of lack of awa­re­ness and deci­ded to bring a sea res­cue to the screen as a real-time docu­men­ta­ry to show how ago­ni­s­in­gly long it takes to res­cue 104 peo­p­le from a sin­king rub­ber boat. The film accom­pa­nies the action per­son by per­son, step by step, with seve­ral par­al­lel cameras.

The situa­ti­on comes to a head when the Libyan coast­guard turns up. The res­cued peo­p­le and the crew wait for days on the high seas, as no Mediterranean coun­try allows them to dock. Only after a ter­ri­ble storm does a har­bour grant them ent­ry. What sounds like a bad film script is actual­ly the dai­ly reality.

Credits:

DE 2023, 93 Min., engl., dt. OmU
Regie & Schnitt: Jonathan Schörnig
Kamera: Jonathan Schörnig, Johannes Filous

Trailer:

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