Frozen Conflict

Director: Steffi Wurster    → show biography   ← hide biography

Biography: Steffi Wurster, born in 1971 in Ludwigshafen / Rhine, is filmmaker and stage designer, lives in Berlin. Her documentary films focus on places that are captured by the camera and questioned about political-cultural inscriptions. From 2009 to 2013 she documented the new modeling of the Olympic bay in Sochi (Constructing Sochi, 73 min, Brot und Spiele, 45min, WDR). In the documentary film project on the Transnistrian Conflict (Frozen Conflict, 60 min), she once again looks at a territory that oscillates between East and West and is prone to be taken hostage by geopolitical manoeuvring. Her work has been shown at festivals, conferences and exhibitions.

Country: Germany

Year: 2018

Synopsis: A trilateral border post in the buffer zone between Transnistria and the Republic of Moldova. Three soldiers keep watch on the banks of the river. Beginning with a depiction of this microcosm, the film zooms out to become a detailed description of the state of affairs on one strangest borders in Europe. There is an atmosphere of paralysis and stagnation. With a multi-perspective chorus, FROZEN CONFLICT (Steffi Wurster, G 2018) explores the competing interests of national elites, Russia’s ambiguous role and the impact on the locals‘ living conditions, delivering a picture of a region held hostage to larger geopolitical interests. One wonders who the enemy is. Evoking the absurdity of “Waiting for Godot”, the film exposes thought patterns dating back to the east-west conflict that (should) have run their course.

Language: Russian, Romanian, English, German