Experiencing Interruptions?

The System Is You

Monologues in Crisis. Three generations talk about their fears and their utopian visions. A youth hostel is about to be sold. A situation shortly before the tipping point, in which one's own fears suddenly coincide with other people's experiences of crises. Memories emerge and the house community begins to develop imaginary worlds. Visions of the future are born that try to resist the mechanics of an ongoing historiography.
Does history become more tangible in a crisis? In a situation of uncertainty, is it easier to develop utopias during creative processes? Against the background of the perceived lack of opportunities, this group is struggling for answers - with very different strategies.

  • Mathias Max Herrmann
    Director
  • Mathias Max Herrmann
    Writer
  • Schauspiel Hannover
    Producer
  • hyparschall TON FILM / Mathias Max Herrmann
    Producer
  • Ruby Commey
    Key Cast
    "Mara"
  • Philippe Goos
    Key Cast
    "Roman"
  • Philippa Ashton-Ribbe
    Key Cast
    "Pauline"
  • Viktoria Miknevich
    Key Cast
    "Janna"
  • Emma Struckmann
    Key Cast
    "Greta"
  • Stella Hilb
    Key Cast
    "Christine"
  • Finja Spickschen
    Key Cast
    "Helene"
  • Irene Kugler
    Key Cast
    "Sandra"
  • Sebastian Nakajew
    Key Cast
    "Kochi"
  • Mathias Max Herrmann
    DoP
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Das System bist Du
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    29 minutes 57 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 3, 2021
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Country of Filming:
    Germany
  • Language:
    German
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital 4K / portrait format
  • Aspect Ratio:
    9:16
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Tokyo International Short Film Festival 01/2022
    Tokyo
    Japan
    Winner / Best Short Film
  • New York Movie Awards 01/2022
    New York
    United States
    Official Selection
  • Moscow Shorts 08/2021
    Moscow
    Russian Federation
    Official Selection
  • The IndieFEST Film Awards 08/2021
    La Jolla, California
    United States
    Winner / Award of Merit
  • Bucharest ShortCut Cinefest 06/2021
    Bucharest
    Romania
    Nominee / Best Screenplay
  • Paris Play Film Festival 06/2021
    Paris
    France
    Winner / Best Drama Short
  • London Independent Film Awards 05/2021
    London
    United Kingdom
    Winner / Best Foreign Short
  • 180´Berlin Filmfest 2021
    Berlin
    Germany
    Semi-Finalist
  • London Shorts 05/2021
    London
    United Kingdom
    Nominee / Best Short
Director Biography - Mathias Max Herrmann

Mathias Max Herrmann (1966, Germany) is a filmmaker and actor. He’s the founder of "Gerd Schneider Gesellschaft" and co-founder of the "Theater im Ballsaal Bonn" and has initiated numerous crossover productions in the fields of theater, film, performance and installation – for example in Berlin (at Neue Nationalgalerie and at staatsbankberlin), Frankfurt/Main (Künstlerhaus Mousonturm), Oberhausen, Hannover. Besides making movies and film installations he also works as an actor and director.

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Director Statement

THE SYSTEM IS YOU shows people in crisis who struggle for the present. In speaking, in hearing, and in silence. They don't find the solution, but they develop tools. They practice how to design utopias. Because they hope that tomorrow's history is not pre-written.
The pandemic has brought about many changes. Very quickly the slogan "Back to normal" arose. As if our lives were normal before the crisis. Normal for whom?
The slogan "Back to normal“ connotates confidence in a specific logic: History is a sequence of predictable events. This history is only disrupted from time to time from an unplanned event. This idea of history, as if in an illustrated book in front of us, carries an economic calculus of defining the future as predictable. If we know how it was, we also will know how it will be, and this is how it has already been.
Utopias are thus killed. History is certainly an instrument of power. History is an assertion. However, in order to create images of the future, we need disruption, the power of poetry, and a radical here and now.