Over a five-year period Pepa Lubojacki documents the lives of four family members, first and foremost brother David who is an alcoholic and homeless. Using a highly personal, diary-like collage Lubojacki attempts to lay bare the roots of intergenerational misfortune repeatedly manifested in severe addiction. Text sculptures, long-term observations, synth-infused beats and AI-animated childhood photos merge here into a striking and playful, unsparing yet loving revelation. If Pigeons Turned to Gold is both an act of surrender and a shimmer of hope, a show of strength and a process of resolution. Pepa Lubojacki thus brings the past to life, creating a context that shields David and their cousins, also suffering from addiction, from the judgmental gaze of the outside world – and its ignorance. In their gentle encounter, for one moment they become lonely children once again. Not so much in search of guilt but more healing, the end brings the possibility of a transformation, symbolized in the father’s dilapidated house that Pepa transforms into a safe space: Home, I’m coming. (Berlinale Forum, Carolin Weidner)
Images for download and additional materials are available on our theatrical release page (in German only); bonus content can be found on the Forum website. Here you find the Caligari Film Prize jury’s statement.
The director will present If Pigeons Turned to Gold at several theaters in Germany as part of the Caligari Film Prize Tour; exact dates will be announced in late summer.
We hold the screening rights for Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland only.
