Strange neighborsa nature documentary with no narration, no interviews, and no human protagonists, will open this year’s Oldenburg International Film Festival, marking the first time a documentary has launched a German independent film festival.
The debut of cinematographer May Steinbach, Strange neighbors It was filmed over three years on Schwarztonensand, an island and nature reserve on Germany’s Elbe River, located in the middle of one of Europe’s busiest waterways.
The island, just over two miles long, was created in the late 1960s from sand dredged during the deepening of the Elbe Shipping Canal serving the port of Hamburg, then left to itself and gradually farmed out. It is located directly on the line of the fairway, and is closer to the shipping lane than any other land on the river, so container ships pass within meters of it.
It is a protected area. Humans are banned from the island, and Steinbach has banned them from watching her film. Strange neighbors It contains neither a commentary track nor dialogue, although it features a soundtrack and sound design by Robert Naquin.
“It was never my idea to make a natural history film,” Steinbach says. THR. “I wanted to make a film that not only tells you something about animal behavior or about animals, but tells you something about this place and above all about us and humans.”
Among the habitats Steinbach photographed were tidal floodplain forests, a landscape type that has largely disappeared in Europe. White-tailed eagles, geese and wild roe deer inhabit the island, along with ground-nesting bird species and predators, including foxes and raccoon dogs. Across the narrow waters, the surrounding region, which includes factories for chemical giant Dow and aviation conglomerate Airbus, is one of the most industrialized areas in Europe. The area is also home to large-scale industrial agriculture, with the resulting effluent leading to oxygen depletion and widespread fish die-offs annually.
Steinbach filmed the documentary herself over the course of three years and multiple visits to the island. She often stayed for several weeks, living in a wooden hut built on stilts to protect it from the tides.
Strange neighbors It was produced by Earth Cut Filmproduktion and financed by Film- und Medienstiftung NRW. It comes to Oldenburg without a sales agent or theatrical distributor. Steinbach hopes the world premiere will interest buyers in Germany and beyond. “This film was produced for cinemas,” she says.
Steinbach will attend the Oldenburg Festival, which runs from September 16 to 20.
