Wadan’s World – About the Dignity of Work
A documentary by Dieter Schumann
Funded by BKM, DFFF, Filmfund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein and Economic Filmfund Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
In coproduction with Basthorster Filmmanufaktur
A film about the value of work
News
Parts
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Wadan's World
Press Echo
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"Dieter Schumann gives the workers space, uncovers their existential fears, their risen expectations when investors and politicians make promises. He documents the "power and powerlessness of unions" and the inability of entrepeneurs to master the minefield of ship construction. Are the construction sites located along the baltic sea with their endless state subsidies a hole without a bottom? When face to face with the shipyard workers the viewer will no longer be able to legitimize that question."
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"WADAN'S WORLD seems to come from a fading world: The film tells the story of a long-established company in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It became the play ball of changing investors in the past years. In the center of Dieter Schumann's visually powerful film is the dignity and ethos of work and the loneliness of humanity in the world of globalization, worker's helplessness in a network of economical interests. Dieter Schumann manages to capture symbolical scenes showing the change of the working world without pressing on clichés. With his strong connection to the protagonists he wakes empathy, at the same time this extraordinary work shows with painful intensity the how fragile friendships and solidarity are. Harder then the work is loosing it."
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"How pride and self-confidence are at stake when the strong-willed shipyard construction workers become a playing ball for investors and financiers is documented whole-heartedly by Mecklenburg-based filmmaker Schumann."
Der Spiegel
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TV piece on Wadans World from the Dok Leipzig festival
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Wadan’s World – About the Dignity of Work
A documentary by Dieter Schumann
Funded by BKM, DFFF, Filmfund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein and Economic Filmfund Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
In coproduction with Basthorster Filmmanufaktur
Wismar, 120 km east of Hamburg, 45,000 citizens. The income of every third family here depends on Wadan Yards, the only large company in the region. In August, 2008, a Russian investor takes over the old German company and the future seems safe. Shortly thereafter, the world financial and economical crisis starts somewhere in the US and hits the old Hanseatic city hard. 5,000 jobs are endangered.
A race against time starts. We accompany a group of welders throughout the turbulent months and learn that the loss of work means a lot more than just the loss of income. “If you want to be a shipbuilder, you have to be born for it,” says one of the protagonists, pointing out what has been true in this region for ages: Being a shipbuilder is a reputable job that is often passed on from generation to generation. Shipbuilding stands for dignity and quality and characterises the whole coastal region.
We accompany the workers, owners and insolvency administrators. We see them fighting to rescue of the shipyard, against the ups and downs, between powerlessness, anger, sadness and hope. 18 months of shooting, 120 hours of material. The crisis stayed an abstract phenomenon to many, but we see what it means for the majority of these workers. The Wadan Yards sink and reopen with a new owner. Some protagonists go back to the company, but the conditions are a lot worse. We attend the last shift before the closedown due to insolvency, and the first shift after reopening.
The film captures what the crisis leaves behind and how the loss affects social values. People are divided in superiors and losers, people with work and without work. “Everything is different now,” says one man, meaning the lifeless feeling in his chest.
Director: Dieter Schumann
Script: Dieter Schumann, Jochen Wisotzki
Conceptual advisory: Niels Reise
Director of photography: Rainer M. Schulz
Sound: Rainer Maria Viltz, Arne Papenhagen
Editor: Gudrun Steinbrück
Music: Nils Kacirek
Sound design: Roman Vehlken
Speaker: Jutta Wachowiak
Executive producer: Christian Beetz
Producer: Georg Tschurtschenthaler
Co-producer: Dieter Schumann
Line producer: Kathrin Isberner
Production accountant: Daniela Schöne
Technical supervisory: Philipp Weigold
Production manager: Ruth Stegemann
Production assistance: Nick Pastucha, Anna Bolster
Editing studio: art.movies Wismar
Title design: Bernhard Kübel
Coproduction
Sponsors
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Wadan's World
Lichtmeß Kino - Hamburg
5 November 2012 at 7 pm -
Wadan’s World
Landesvertretung MV - Berlin
13 February 2011 at 6 pm -
Wadan’s World
In Germany - cinema release date
1 May 2011 -
Wadan's World
Kino im Filmbüro - Wismar, Germany
from 18 May 2011 at 7.30 pm -
Wadan's World
Kino im Filmbüro - Wismar, Germany
18 May 2011 -
Wadan's World
Capitol 5, filmkunst MV - Schwerin, Germany
08 May 2011 at 4.00 pm -
Wadan's World
Babylon Mitte - Berlin, Germany
24 July 2011 at 7.45 pm -
Wadan's World
Acud - Berlin, Germany
02 June 2011 to 15 June 2011 -
Wadan's World
Krokodil - Berlin, Germany
22 August 2011 -
Wadan's World
Cinestar - Stralsund, Germany
from 20 May 2011 at 2.45 pm -
Wadan's World
Kino Boizenburg - Boizenburg, Germany
14 to 27 July 2011 -
Wadan's World
Kommunales Kino - Kiel, Germany
19 May 2011 to 22 May 2011 -
Wadan's World
Babylon Mitte - Berlin, Germany
15 July 2011 at 6.00 pm -
Wadan’s World
Lichtmesskino, Dokfilmwoche - Hamburg, Germany
07 April 2011 at 6.00 pm -
Wadan's World
52. Nordic Filmdays Lübeck - Lübeck, Germany
6 November 2010 at 08.15 pm -
Wadan's World
"Best of DOK Leipzig" - Genova Film Festival
2-8 July 2012 -
Wadan's World
Babylon Mitte - Berlin, Germany
13 July 2011 at 7.00 pm -
Wadan's World
Babylon Mitte - Berlin, Germany
05 July 2011 at 08.00 pm -
Wadan's World
Krokodil - Berlin, Germany
16 June 2011 to 29 June 2011 -
Wadan's World
Capitol - Schwerin, Germany
from 19 May 2011 at 5.30 pm -
Wadan's World
Cinestar - Stralsund, Germany
from 19 May 2011 -
Wadan’s World
Kinoteka, Beldocs - Belgrade, Serbia
09 May 2011 at 9.00 pm -
Wadan's World
Kino im Filmbüro - Wismar, Germany
from 19 May 2011 -
Wadan's World
Metropolis - Hamburg, Germany
16 and 17 June 2011 -
Wadan’s World
Now playing - e.g. in Stralsund, Kiel und Wismar
from May 19th -
Wadan’s World
Filmtheater - Ludwigslust, Germany
02 June 2011 to 08 June 2011 -
Wadan's World
Hansa Filmtheater - Rostock, Germany
14 May 2011 -
Wadan's World
3001 - Hamburg, Germany
15 May 2011 to 18 May 2011 -
Wadan's World
HANSA, FISH-Festival - Rostock, Germany
14 May 2011 at 8 pm -
Wadan's World
ARRI Kino, DOK.fest - Munich, Germany
09 May 2011 at 9.30 pm -
Wadan's World
Capitol 3, filmkunst MV - Schwerin, Germany
06 May 2011 at 8.45 pm -
Wadan's World
DOK Leipzig, German Competition - Leipzig, Germany
22 October 2010 at 7.30 pm -
Wadan's World
Babylon Mitte - Berlin, Germany
10 August 2011 at 7.00 pm -
Wadan's World
Capitol - Schwerin, Germany
from 19 May 2011 -
Wadan's World
Lichtspiel Wundervoll - Rostock, Germany
from 16 May 2011 -
Wadan's World
Stadttheater - Wismar, Germany
08 May 2011 at 5 pm -
Wadan's World
Odeon Cinema - Mannheim, Germany
25 November 2011 at 9.00 pm -
Wadan's World
HDW Werft, Special Screening - Kiel, Germany
19 May 2011 -
Wadan's World
City 3, DOK.fest - Munich, Germany
07 May 2011 at 2.30 pm -
Wadan's World - Premiere Hamburg
Zeise-Kino - Hamburg, Germany
15 June 2011 at 8.00 pm -
Wadan's World
Brotfabrik - Berlin, Germany
02 June 2011 to 15 June 2011 -
Wadan's World
Cinestar - Greifswald, Germany
from 20 May 2011 at 2.30 pm -
Wadan's World
Cumberland 3, Hot Docs - Toronto, Canada
04 May 2011 at 1.15 pm -
Wadan's World
Screen 4, OpenCity - London, Great Britain
17 June 2011 at 9.10 pm -
Wadan's World
Cinestar - Greifswald, Germany
from 19 May 2011 -
Wadan's World
TIFF Bell Lightbox 4, Hot Docs - Toronto, Canada
02 May 2011 at 6.15 pm -
Wadan's World
Burgtheater - Ratzeburg, Germany
01 August 2011
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