Ohne diese Welt

Without this World

Guest of Perspektive Deutsches Kino 2018

Argentina, 2016. In a forgotten corner of the country’s hot northern region there are around 700 ethnic German Mennonites living life as though it were still the eighteenth century. This community speaks Old Low German and lives off the land and by breeding cattle. They use horse carts instead of cars and their only schoolbooks are the Bible and the Catechism. Their religion forbids the use of electricity, telephones or radios. Life, they believe, should not be comfortable. Instead the colony chooses to pursue a way of life that is as pious as possible in the service of God, in the hope that their children will decide to continue on this path. These Mennonites seek to shut out the influence of the ‘world’ as they describe everything outside their religious community. This is also the reason why they moved here from Mexico 18 years ago. But is it possible to deny all forms of progress? Ohne diese Welt observes life in a quietist society caught between isolation and change.

by Nora Fingscheidt Germany 2017 German, Spanish 115’ Colour Documentary form

Crew

Director	Nora Fingscheidt
Cinematography	Yunus Roy Imer
Editing	Stephan Bechinger
Music	John Gürtler
Sound Design	Jonathan Schorr
Sound	Bernhard Köpke
Commissioning Editor	Burkhard Althoff
Producer	Peter Hartwig, Juliane S. Engel, Leonie Pokutta
Co-Production	Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg Ludwigsburg ZDF – Das kleine Fernsehspiel Mainz

Produced by

Kineo Filmproduktion

Nora Fingscheidt

Born in Braunschweig, Germany in 1983, she spent her school years in Germany and Argentina. She was involved in setting up the self-organised film school, filmArche, in Berlin while also training as an acting coach. From 2008 to 2017, she studied fiction directing at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. Her graduation film, the documentary Ohne diese Welt, won awards including the 2017 Max Ophüls Prize. Her debut feature System Crasher participated in the Berlinale Competition in 2019 and won the Alfred Bauer Award. The film was a national box-office success and received eight German Film Awards and several international prizes. In 2020, she made her first English-language feature, The Unforgivable, with Sandra Bullock in the main role.

Filmography

2010 Synkope; short film 2011 Zwischen den Zeilen; short film 2013 Brüderlein; medium-length film 2014 Boulevard’s End; short documentary 2016 Die Lizenz; short film 2017 Ohne diese Welt; documentary 2019 Systemsprenger (System Crasher) 2021 The Unforgivable 2024 The Outrun

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2024