Name: Film: Elfi Mikesch: What Shall We Do Without Death + Conversation
Start: 2026-05-13T19:00:00+01:00
End: 2026-05-13T22:00:00+01:00
Location: Goethe-Institut London

Film: Elfi Mikesch: What Shall We Do Without Death + Conversation

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Goethe-Institut London

A poetic documentary about an unconventional nursing home in Hamburg followed by an online conversation with director Elfi Mikesch

Elfi Mikesch’s poetic documentary about an unconventional nursing home in Hamburg leads us into a dreamlike space between life and death, where cheeky humour and melancholia, tender companionship and loneliness coexist. Objects and hands take on lives of their own, captured by a gently curious camera that drifts as voices chat, caress, reflect, and read from diaries or TV magazines. We look forward to a discussion with Elfi Mikesch following the film. West Germany 1979, 101 mins, with English subtitles. Written, directed and filmed by Elfi Mikesch. More About the Film Elfi Mikesch about her film: “How strange are these being who interpret what cannot be interpreted – who read what has never been written – who masterfully bind the tangled and find their way even in eternal darkness.”*This sentence, quoted by the over seventy-year old Käthe and appearing as a fragment of her entire life, is also the guiding principle of the film “What Shall We Do Without Death?”. The film tells the stories of elderly people who are largely overlooked by the outside world. It also tells the story of two elderly women who have found each other in this care home. Added to this is a young couple, Barbara and Steven, and their child, who have come to this care home in Hamburg for an indefinite period to look after the residents. Despite a few mistakes, they carry out their task with great warmth and humour. Viewers are given an insight into the typical daily routine of a care home, which, however, is all but ordinary due to the director’s unconventional approach. The friendly and tender way in which the ‘newcomers’ interact with the ‘elders’ sparks a form of communication that is not usually found in care homes due to staff shortages or a lack of interest. In the film, the melancholy triggered by the confrontation with ‘everyday’ mortality is given equal weight to the clear moments of strength and joie de vivre. A plea for the possibilities of individual self-realisation beyond all age limits. (source: Elfi Mikesch) *The quote is taken from Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s one-act play Death and the Fool (1893) but has been slightly altered. The official translation of the original reads: “How wonderful these humans are”. The play is about an encounter between Death and a superficial nobleman who only realises the value of deeper human bonds at the hour of his death. Death speaks the quoted lines at the end of the play. The lines above are a free translation of the German lines in Mikesch’s text. The official translation is: “How wonderful these humans are, indeed / Who do explain the inexplicable, / And what was never writ, they read; / The intricate they, subjugating, bind, / And thru eternal darkness paths they find.” (Boston: R. G. Badger, c1914) West Germany 1979, 101 mins, colour &amp; b/w, digital (original format: 16mm), with English subtitles. Written, directed and filmed by Elfi Mikesch; editors: Renate Merck, Elfi Mikesch; sound: Katharina Geinitz; assistant: Anke‑Rixa Hansen; production: Oh Muvie Film Berlin and Laurens Straub on behalf of ZDF; commissioning editor: Maya Constantin. World premiere: February 1980, Berlin International Film Festival, International Forum of Young Cinema. With Frau Käthe, Frau Traute, and residents of a retirement home in Hamburg, staff and visitors, Barbara Gold, Edith London, Steven Adamczewski, Soma, and Christa Weisenseel.

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Film: Elfi Mikesch: What Shall We Do Without Death + Conversation

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