Trailer
Year
2011
Length
99 min
Director
Paul Poet
Empire Me
Don‘t we sometimes fancy the idea of breaking out of our daily routine in order to start a new life beyond all conventions and constraints? The idea of Utopia, of a better life in an earthly paradise, is a dream mankind has long imagined in many versions. But the rigid principles of a globalised world hardly allow alternatives and visions.
In search of an ideal lifestyle, hundreds of do-it-yourself entities build their own little microcosms. Micronations, eco-villages and secessionists are creating an alternative way of living together, with real territories and communities.
Thousands of free spirits thus battle against the new world order. They annex whole regions and districts. They create their own laws, languages, stamps and banknotes. The populations range from 1 to 500,000, and they come from different stratums and ideologies. With „Empire Me“, the author Paul Poet, himself veteran of alternative networks and social experiments, encounters six of these counter worlds which represent the movement at its best.
The feature-length film, which also includes a Web project, is staged as a road movie going straight to the heart of foreign social structures; like a glance at and behind the art of self presentation.
Paul Poet and his team explore more than just the various visions of the counter worlds and their makers. They also look for the common human need that unites them: The yearning for meaning, recognition and community in an increasingly bewildering world order.
Written and directed by
Paul Poet
Director of Photography
Enzo Brandner
Gerald Kerkletz
Jerzy Palacz
Edited by
Karina Ressler
Sound
Joe Knauer
Atanas Tcholakov
Executive producers
Johannes Rosenberger
Christian Beetz
Bady Mink
Line Producers
Johannes Rosenberger
Kathrin Isberner
Commissioning Editor
Martin Pieper (ZDF/arte)
Sales & distribution
- Press kit
- Press photos
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„Just in diesem Moment überraschen uns die aus dem Theaterbereich stammenden jungen Regisseure Hans Block und Moritz Riesewieck mit einem erstaunlichen Dokumentarfilm, der seit Monaten Publikum und Kritik auf den wichtigsten Festivals der Welt elektrisiert. Völlig zu Recht: Es ist, als würden einem die Scheuklappen weggerissen, als sähe man das, was sich seit Jahren direkt vor unseren Augen abspielt, zum ersten Mal unverschleiert... eine fesselnde ,Doku noir' mit höchstem Anspruch...Dieser Film müsste an allen Schulen gezeigt werden.“
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
17.05.2018
