Parallel Lives
A documentary by Frank Matter, 139 min., CH 2021
Filmmaker Frank Matter set out to find people who, like him, were born on
June 8, 1964, but under completely different circumstances. Following their life stories, «Parallel Lives» takes us on a moving and visually stunning journey through the last decades. The world has changed a lot during this time. What impact did this have on the individual? How are time and place intertwined with who we are and where we’re going? Little by little, the stories of the protagonists merge into a colorful and multi-layered fresco of our time. The film touches on the existential question of what it means to be human.
June 8, 1964, but under completely different circumstances. Following their life stories, «Parallel Lives» takes us on a moving and visually stunning journey through the last decades. The world has changed a lot during this time. What impact did this have on the individual? How are time and place intertwined with who we are and where we’re going? Little by little, the stories of the protagonists merge into a colorful and multi-layered fresco of our time. The film touches on the existential question of what it means to be human.
Zukiswa Ramncwana grew up in a small village in South Africa, under a regime that denied her even the most basic rights. After the end of apartheid, the country undergoes massive changes making her believe that now anything is possible that she has been dreaming of.
Michel Berandi spent his childhood in Paris. As a teenager he rebels against the bourgeois conventions that mean so much to his parents, but drugs, sex and rock'n'roll lead him to the edge of the abyss.
Melissa Hensy runs away from the disciplined, closed-off world of her American military family to Panama, in order to take charge of her own life. But her self-liberation ends in a nightmare.
Li Pujian was born in a Chinese provincial town. During the Cultural Revolution, his father is humiliated and beaten. Later the family is exiled to the countryside. The Lis are very poor, often there is hardly enough food. Then China experiences an unprecedented economic boom that totally changes Lis's life.
From radically subjective perspectives, the film explores how political ideas, personal dreams and the consciousness of the individual change against the background of historical events. What happened to the children of June 8, 1964 between the poles of liberation and alienation, individualism and loneliness, tolerance and indifference?
Produced by Recycled Tv AG and soap factory GmbH
in co-production with SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, SRG SSR
Writer, director:Frank Matter
in co-production with SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, SRG SSR
Writer, director:Frank Matter
Original version in English, Chinese, German, Xhosa with English, German or French subtitles, 139 min.
With Melissa Hensy, Zukiswa Ramncwana, Li Pujian (李普建), Michel Berandi and many more
Festivals:
Visions du Réel 2021, Nyon, Switzerland
Visions du Réel 2021, Nyon, Switzerland