Red Earth White Snow

"There is nothing stranger in a strange land than the strangers who come to visit," we hear the voice of the director say off-screen in Nkwumeatu, located in southeastern Nigeria. Christine Moderbacher´s literally "unbelieving gaze" emulates Chinua Achebe´s book, All Things Fall Apart, first published in 1958, as she comprehends the "real" relationships and reference points to red earth and white snow in their presence. The tractor is a symbol of technical progress and simultaneously a crucial link in the longstanding Austrian Nigerian partnership: It refuses to shift into gear, whereby well-intentioned plans for mechanical support of the harvest fall into the remote distance. At the same time, multiple relationships of dependency resound.

Keywords

  • Austrian Films
  • Diagonale - Festival of Austrian Film
  • Veganuary
  • Africa
  • Agriculture
  • family
  • religion
  • sixpackfilm
  • travel

Director

  • Christine Moderbacher

Documentary


1h 11min


16+

DE


DE

Austria
2018
Filmmaker Christine Moderbacher joins her father to help construct a school in Nigeria and examines her role as "foreign helper".

Filmmaker Christine Moderbacher joins her father to help construct a school in Nigeria and examines her role as "foreign helper".


"There is nothing stranger in a strange land than the strangers who come to visit," we hear the voice of the director say off-screen in Nkwumeatu, located in southeastern Nigeria.


Christine Moderbacher´s literally "unbelieving gaze" emulates Chinua Achebe´s book, All Things Fall Apart, first published in 1958, as she comprehends the "real" relationships and reference points to red earth and white snow in their presence.

The tractor is a symbol of technical progress and simultaneously a crucial link in the longstanding Austrian Nigerian partnership: It refuses to shift into gear, whereby well-intentioned plans for mechanical support of the harvest fall into the remote distance. At the same time, multiple relationships of dependency resound.

Festivals

Cast & Crew