Lonely Oaks

A new community has emerged, thirty metres above the ground in the treetops of the Hambach Forest. In 2018, this site becomes the focus of climate policy disputes in Germany on account of a group of people who have got involved by living in self-built tree houses in a bid to prevent the threatened clearance of the forest. Film student Steffen Meyn documented these activists’ partly peaceful, partly radical, partly aggressive struggle against the destruction of nature over a period of two years with a 360-degree helmet camera. But then he fell from a tree during a police eviction and died. This documentary by Meyn’s friends and fellow students Fabiana Fragale, Kilian Kuhlendahl and Jens Mühlhoff is based on his footage. In their film, the protagonist’s doubts come across just as clearly as does his friendly perseverance and his efforts to cope with the more militant aspects of the movement. In addition, the directors conducted interviews with activists on whom the experiences in “Hambi” have left their mark. How far, they ask, does activism need to go? And how far should it go? (Berlinale)