2002
THIS IS MY COUNTRY
DIESES LAND IST MEIN LAND
Germany
45min. tv documentary
author: Antonio Cascais
director: Antonio Cascais, Marcel Kolvenbach
camer: Marcel Kolvenbach
WDR German public tv
Political road movie confronting racism and right-wing extremism in Germany.
Germany today, a divided Country. What are you doing here in Germany? That's what “foreigners” like Antonio Cascais often hear. But this is his country, his home, ever since his parents came to Germany from Portugal as guest workers. As a successful German tv reporter, Cascais deals with issues that threaten social cohesion: right-wing violence, racist murders, and criminals with foreign passports. On his road trip across Germany, he meets the widow of the first racist murder after reunification, encounters young Nazis in eastern Germany, and accompanies a criminal Italian man as he is deported to Italy by the German authorities. The film shows that prison for Nazis and deportation of foreigners only treats the symptoms. The soundtrack for the road movie features songs by Portuguese jazz singer Maria João, whom Cascais meets at a concert at the end of the film and talks to about identity and art as a response.