Persistent Openness – 
The Films of Sebastian Heidinger

Sebastian Heidinger carried out radical film work in documentary cinema. Over the course of lengthy, persistent research, he got close to people battling for survival on a daily basis in suitably cautious fashion. His genuine interest and a social approach marked by patient affection enabled him to find an appropriate cinematic form, staked out between distance and intimacy. Last year, Sebastian Heidinger died unexpectedly and far too early at the age of just 42. To honor his memory, we are showing his two documentary features DRIFTER and TRAUMFABRIK KABUL as well as one of his short films and research materials for an unfinished film project about farming traditions in Bavaria - accompanied by introductions on Heidinger’s uncompromising filmmaking between Zoo Station in Berlin and Afghanistan by film critic Bert Rebhandl, Heidinger’s cinematographer Alexander Gheorghiu and filmmakers Andres Veiel and Nicolas Wackerbarth, who knew him from his time studying at the DFFB.