Info
Logline
In this drama about open-pit mining, giant excavators, and even greater hopes that have been dashed, the changing times are captured in vast long shots of German industry.
Michael, an open-pit miner, refuses to accept the fact that coal is being phased out. He doesn’t want things to change. Working in an open-pit mine is more than just a job to him. He tries to convince his co-workers to join in his protest of the changes afoot, but by not being able to let go, he gets less and less support — even from his family.
Meet the director
Henning Beckhoff
Henning Beckhoff, born near the Ruhr Valley in 1991, came to Berlin to study directing at the Babelsberg Film University. His no-budget film FÜNF DINGE, DIE ICH NICHT VERSTEHE received several awards and was released to theaters by Filmgalerie 451. His graduation film OFF SEASON premiered at the Berlinale, was nominated for the First Steps Award, and received the Michael Ballhaus Award. Beckhoff participated in the Berlinale Talents and the Drehbuchwerkstatt München and received a Wim Wenders scholarship. With his screenplays he participated in the Résidence du Festival de Cannes as well as the Berlinale Script Station. He has contributed to the Perspektive Deutsches Kino of the Berlinale as a jury member and was invited by the Goethe-Institut to the Villa Kamogawa in Japan. Beckhoff regards filmmaking as being linked to the pursuit of a personal cinema. He is concerned with his own gaze, with the precise description of people and places. This is what he focused on while working on his first feature-length film, FOSSIL.