Chronos – Fluss der Zeit

“Sarmatische Zeit” (Sarmatian Time) is the name of a poetry collection by Johannes Bobrowski, which becomes a personal, lyrical leitmotif for Volker Koepp in this visually striking, far-reaching exploration of the region between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, along the Memel, Dnister and Pruth rivers. It is a place of different origins, longings and crimes: a melting pot for myriad cultures and affiliations, a point of reference and refuge for over half a century in the work of the great chronicler and the setting of repeated cruelties and destruction. Returning to his own oeuvre with companions old and new becomes a simultaneous process of looking back and bringing things up to date. Like the arms of a delta, connections to German history and the entire European context are created, between past and present. And for a long while, time seems to stand terribly still within this flow, for since the start of the Russian war against Ukraine in 2022, the echo of the experience of violence inscribed into this region becomes impossible to ignore. What originates in poems about the Memel region develops into a monumental contemplation about people in time and space. (Irina Bondas)

Volker Koepp, born in 1944 in Stettin and raised in Berlin, after training as a machinist, Volker Koepp studied at the Technische Universität, Dresden, and the Film University Babelsberg. From 1970 to 1991, he was employed as a documentary director by DEFA Studio. He has since worked as a freelance director, writer, producer and teacher, and has been a guest at the Berlinale Forum multiple times. In addition to various awards for his film work, he received the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class in 2014 and became an honorary member of the German Film Academy in 2021.

Director Volker Koepp. Screenplay Volker Koepp. Cinematography Uwe Mann. Cinematography Christian Lehmann, Thomas Plenert. Editing Christoph Krüger. Sound Design Urs Hauck. Producer Volker Koepp. Executive Producer Volker Koepp. Commissioning Editors Rolf Bergmann, Thomas Beyer. Production company Vineta Film (Berlin, Germany). With Tanja Kloubert, Anetta Kahane, Volha Hapeyeva, Ana-Felicia Scutelnicu.

Films (selection): 1972: Grüße aus Sarmatien (short documentary). 1973: Gustav J. (short documentary). 1974: Mädchen in Wittstock (short documentary, Berlinale Forum 1977). 1976: Wieder in Wittstock (short documentary, Berlinale Forum 1977). 1979: Tag für Tag (documentary). 1980: Haus und Hof (documentary). 1984: Leben in Wittstock (documentary, Berlinale Forum 1985). 1985: Afghanistan 1362 (documentary). 1992: Neues in Wittstock (documentary). 1995: Kalte Heimat (documentary, Berlinale Forum 1995). 1999: Herr Zwilling und Frau Zuckermann / Mr. Zwilling and Mrs. Zuckermann (documentary, Berlinale Forum 1999). 2002: Uckermark (documentary, Berlinale Forum 2002). 2004: Dieses Jahr in Czernowitz / This Year in Czernowitz (documentary, Berlinale Forum 2004). 2016: Landstück / Piece of Land (documentary, Berlinale Forum 2016). 2023: Gehen und Bleiben / Leaving and Staying (documentary, Berlinale Forum 2023). 2026: Chronos – Fluss der Zeit / Chronos – Flow of Time.