DIE WALDDÖRFER DER RHÖN
Deutschland 2004 – Director: Susanne Roser – Original language: German – Length: 43 min.
The second film takes us into the forest towns of Sandberg, Waldberg and Langenleiten in the low mountain ranges of the Rhön region in the centre of Germany, which is also known as the "land of open vistas" as it represents an open cultural landscape shaped by human use over several centuries. The three villages were the last ones to be built in the region. The houses stand close together along large main roads. The back gardens, filled with fruit and herbs, frame each village like a protective wall. No one has ever been rich here. The land is barren and can barely feed the people. They always had to use their imagination to find alternative ways of earning money.
In 1949, Josef Holzheimer visited his hometown in the forest for the last time. Like many others, he had left in his youth to emigrate to the USA, where he made his fortune. He made a colour film about his last visit home that gives a unique insight into a lost rural world. Die Walddörfer der Rhön tracks the remaining traces of this fascinating forgotten world. How much of it is still there in the Röhn?
Camera: Birgit Kruschwitz. Sound: Michael Ujlacky. Editing: Silvia Martin. Production: Bayerischer Rundfunk, Kunst und Kulturberichte. Producer: Peter Giesecke.
