Watch the film on Sooner!
What does it mean to be a prisoner of your own body and invisible? “Sandgirl” takes us into the unique world of experiences and life of Veronika Raila, a young autistic girl, hypersensitive and seriously disabled from birth.
Raila knows what it feels like not to be seen as a person. As a child she was diagnosed with an IQ of 0. Only her parents refused to believe this. Today Raila publishes prose and poems, studies literature and theology. Together with director Mark Michel she reviews her own life in this film. The combination of her writings and thoughts with delicately filmed everyday observation, poetic nature shots and artist Anne Löper’s fleeting but powerful sand animations coalesce into an essay about freedom and perception.
“Sandgirl”, however, is more than the sequel to the award winning short film “Veronika” which Michel made about Raila in 2011. This time Veronika is not just a protagonist but a creative partner whose trenchant texts carry the film and who frequently makes detailed suggestions about how to illustrate her interior world. In a profound but sometimes also eminently funny dialogue with Mark Michel she finally becomes the tour guide of her own universe of sand, music and words.
(Luc-Carolin Ziemann)
CAST
Veronika Raila, Petronilla Raila, Uwe Raila
CREW
Directed by Mark Michel
Screenplay: Mark Michel, Veronika Raila
DOP: Ines Thomsen
Editing: Andreas Baltschun, Ed van Megen, Mark Michel
Sound: Christian Schunke
Produktion: Peter Zorn, Worklights Media Production GmbH
Production supported by
Werkleitz Gesellschaft e.V.
Davis Lernverband
Development sponsored by
Documentary Campus Masterschool 2012
Kulturstiftung Sachsen
BKM – Beauftragte für Kultur und Medien
Production sponsored by
Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung
FFA / BKM
Kuratorium junger deutscher Film
Kulturstiftung Sachsen
Mark Michel
Studied sociology and international politics at the University of Leipzig, University of Bath and University of Toronto. He is a Freelance filmmaker and author for ARTE, MDR, 3sat, ZDF and WDR. He also worked as a radio author for Deutschlandfunk, Deutschlandradio Kultur, Dradio Wissen and WDR. He is a member of Mediendienst Ost – a network of freelance journalists in Leipzig. He has worked as an author, filmmaker and cameraman in Cambodia, Finland, Belarus, India, Hungary, Thailand and Bosnia-Herzegovina. He participated in the Documentary Campus Masterschool and was a participant in ESoDoc. http://www.markmichel.de/
Filmography
Intensiv – (2006), 20 min – MDR/3sat
Tanz mit der Zeit – (2007), 110 min, co-written and directed by Trevor Peters, ZDF/arte
Nada /Hope – (2008), 6 min – MDR/3sat
U Cant’t Touch This – (2009), 60 min
Der Banker und die Stille – (2010), 6 min
Die Regierung – (2011), 30 min, MDR/3sat
Lys – Light – (2011), 9 min
Veronika – (2012), 7 min, MDR/3sat
Die Goldjungen – (2015), 7 min, arte
Sandgirl – (2017), 84min
PRESSE
„The jury were blown away by such a strong portryal of such a sensitive issues. They decided to award your film with special jury mention.“ Nepal International Human Rights Film Festival 2019 „I’ve never seen a film like this before. It is beautiful, tender and full of power. It communicated how we (humans) have such different perspectives on the world around us in such an incredible way.“
guest at the scottish mental health film festival
„Sandgirl provides a colourful, poetic and mesmerising insight into the mind and life of an incredible young thinker. The documentary itself focuses more on the talent and creative works of Veronika than it does on her physical impairment. Sandgirl should be celebrated for taking an, unfortunately, uncommon approach in regard to the depiction of people with mental health issues and/or disabilities. This intriguing documentary not only investigates the depth of Veronika’s mind, but also questions common discourses about the importance of able-bodiedness and speech for communication and connection.“
by Lisa Rashleigh
More at http://www.xn--sandmdchen-u5a.de/category/presse/
FESTIVALS
DOK Leipzig 2017 – German Competition,
Germany Women’s Film Days Bielefeld 2018,
Germany Handicap at the Film Festival – Karlsruhe, Germany
Picture This… Film Festival Calgary, Canada
Den Norske Documentary Film Festival, Norway
Salon Internacional de la Luz, Bogota, Columbia EDOC – Film Festival 2018, Peru NEISSE FILM FESTIVAL,
Germany SWR Documentary Festival, Stuttgart,
Germany Respect Human Rights Film Festival 2018, Belfast, North Ireland
Lisbon International Film Awards, Portugal
Bosifest Belgrade 2018, Serbia
DOCSMX Festival 2018,
Mexico Film Festival Women’s Worlds 2018,
Tübingen, Germany Filmkunsttage Sachsen-Anhalt 2018, Halle and Magdeburg, Germany
Kassel Dokfest 2018, Kassel, Germany
Festival Cinema e Transcendencia 2018, Brazil
FIPADOC 2019 Biarritz, France
SANFICI Festival Santander 2019,
Columbia Best of 2018 – Cinemateca Nacional del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador,
2019 Nepal Human Rights International Film Festival
2019, Nepal Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival 2019,
UK Sydney Film Festival 2019, Australia
PORTO FEMME International Film Festival 2019, Portugal assim vivemos 9th Festival international de films sobre deficiencia, Brazil´s Disability Film Festival 2019
AWARDS
German Red Cross Media Award 2018
Prize of the ecumenical youth Jury DOK LEIPZIG 2017
BOSIFEST Belgrade Grand Prix Best Film 2018
Winner of the Special Jury Mention Nepal International Human Rights Film Festival 2019