Farewell Yellow Sea wins the award for best documentary in Schwerin

Farewell Yellow Sea wins the award for best documentary in competition at the „Filmkunstfest Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 2018“!

The jury’s statement:

“The premiere class of filmmaking that mainly concerns itself with the misery in the world. And yet, the world will not end until the last laugh has been silenced. Humor – dramatic in the best sense – is something we seldom see in a documentary narrative. Even in the superbly curated selection of this festival. However, the film that is to be awarded quietly takes it along for its three-year biographical journey.

Cold cuts remain untouched. Only double rooms available. We’ll buy rice tomorrow. So goes the conversation in Chinese, as translated by the subtitles after an unaffectionate German welcome. But tomorrow is Sunday, comes the answer, the stores are all closed. The dilemma of a culture clash begins. In FAREWELL YELLOW SEA the director accompanies a young woman from China, who begins an apprenticeship as a geriatric nurse in southern Germany, is confronted with the hardship of Russian-German cordiality right from the start, defying the adversities that are the harsh reality of a nursing home – despairing, crying, yearning and laughing. Until the successful completion of her three-year training.

The film tells this story consistently from the perspective of the protagonist, supported by the excellent camera work by Mitja Hagelüken that allows the audience to feel all the emotions of the protagonists without commenting on them. A film as thrilling as a staged drama with a hopeful ending that, as my jury colleague Luise put it, “warmed our heart” while watching it. A documentary narrative at its best.