Six film participants from different generations explore the fragility of the basic human need to show oneself and be seen in an experimental setup and through filmmaking. They talk about their experiences as filmmakers, editors, or actors, about their biographies, the success or failure of “showing oneself,” and about the possibility of social participation and childhood influences. Without ever being in the same room at the same time, the actors encounter each other in the form of interview excerpts and scenes from their own films, which they watch, comment on, and interpret together at an editing table. A dialogue across time and space emerges, unfolding like a matryoshka doll. “To show or not to show” is a cinematic experiment that enables an interplay of perspectives and creates connecting elements across generations in order to ultimately trace a common core: How vulnerable are we when we show ourselves, and how great is our longing for it nonetheless? Who is allowed to show themselves and who is overlooked? How do film and television images shape our society, and who ultimately gets to create and curate them?
With: Benito Bause, Sarah Blaßkiewitz, Jutta Brückner, Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay, Maya Constantine, Angelika Levi
