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Christian von der Heyden

Christian von der Heyden

Born in 1958

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Traveller, filmmaker of one film, prepares his second film.

 

 

I was born and grew up in Sélestat in Alsace. At the end of Fifth Form, I quit my secondary school, all I could think of was travelling and discovering something else. I began to travel in Europe, then in Africa, on foot, hitch-hiking, often without a big budget.

I worked during my trips, in the Peloponnese in Greece, in Juba in Sudan, in Bamako in Mali, in Cap town in South Africa during the Apartheid era. My African journeys led me through twenty countries and lasted five years.

Then during the eighties, I made an incursion into Lebanon which was in full torment of war to make art photography. Not easy and a bit crazy.

I spent three years in North America, in Canada where I planted trees on soils which were empty of life, in North California where I moved pianos, painted boats, and built house woods in the middle of big forests. I also spent six months in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, where I cooked country breads in Panarachel, a village situated at the border of a montain lake which was jammed between several vulcanoes, I painted flats in Mexico, and sold souvenirs to American tourists in Puerto Vallerta on the Pacific coast.

I travelled the last years several times in India. During my last trip in Spring 2003, I received a call from my African brothers. In January 2004, I went back to Africa.

 

Filmography:

Anissoroma, my friends

documentary - 52' - 2007 selections : Ecrans du Réel Le Mans France, FIFAI La Réunion 2008 Quintessence - Festival International du Film de Ouidah Bénin 2009, Python Papou, price of the best documentary, Fespaco 2009 out of competition.

 
 

Nos DVD...

  • dvd-lacasaalarue

    a film by Daniel Coche & Simone Fluhr, 45'

    Just like a note book full of words and pictures covering the years from 2000 to 2006, this film bears witness to groups of asylum seekers drifting through Strasbourg.

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  • dvd-lebaldesveuves

    a film by Damien Fritsch, 61'

    Every year, in Munster, in the region of Alsace, a ball with a strange name takes place: the Widows' Ball. Disguised and masked, women are the ones who invite men to the dance.

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  • dvd-unesaisonsansfaim

    a film by Daniel Coche, 88'

    Twenty years after the historic call by Coluche on the French radio "Europe 1", the "Restaurants of Heart" still exist and have become a true charitable institution. Shot in Strasbourg, during winter, the film shows volunteers who help poor people who receive goods to survive.

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  • dvd-revegeneral

    a film by Julia Laurenceau, 63'

    Dreams, fears and anger. Vote for Dreams shows Camille, Julien and the director Julia. Their first meeting was during the students' strike against the French governement in 2006, in Strasbourg city.

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  • dvd-acoeurouvert

    a film by Daniel Coche & Simone Fluhr, 77'

    Several times each year, they are 13.000 Km away from home, in a hospital in Laos. They come from Luxemburg, Strasbourg, Freiburg: they are surgeons, pediatricians, nurses, anaesthetists,...

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