AFUERA

AFUERA was developed as a short film to take a closer look at social isolation, loneliness, and mental sanity in times of political conflict. These topics had been a personal field of interest, ever since I started working as MD in the psychiatry units in Germany. During my work I got in contact with patients with PTSD and psychotic illnesses, from all over the world. Often those patients were suffering from direct or trans-generational trauma, one big (even though not the only) factor was social separation, isolation, and imprisonment.
The question arose, how some human beings manage to overcome mentally and physically some of these adversities while others struggle. A second question that influenced this work, was: What happens with the human body in those circumstances? Since I have a personal background in dance and an education as body-therapist, it became the thematic premise of the research. In close contact with the Centre for Arts & Sciences Montevideo, the idea emerged to create a joint project on the topic.
When the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe agreed to fund the project due to its social relevance, we set up the first structure. However, the original idea was a staged work (including some video projections in Uruguay). That idea was shattered by the pandemic and travel restrictions and the project developed to become a short film.
All throughout the research and production process I was also following the events in eastern Ukraine.
With the acceleration of the conflict and the start of the war in 2021 the real political events suddenly gave a very actual and concrete reference to our work. I hope that AFUERA can inspire people to reflect on the potentially devastating effects of social isolation, separation and imprisonment. At the same time, I hope that it can also provide a small bit of optimism, that the resulting emotional and mental damage is not always determined and we have, as human beings the capacity to overcome those adversities.