Solastalgia

Gripping mixture of feature and documentary: The young climate activist Edda is frustrated by politics, society and her ignorant siblings. SOLASTALGIA has overtaken her. That burdening feeling of loss that arises when someone witnesses the destruction of the earth, and their own livelihood. Edda retreats to a small island in the North Frisian Wadden Sea and breaks off all contact. Once on Pellworm, she meets the pragmatic Sophie, a young farmer who sues the federal government for her right to a future. Edda has to realize that the island she is on is severely threatened by climate change. How can she succeed in making other people understand this threat? Is private retreat really an option? In the hybrid film, the fictional character Edda meets the real protagonist Sophie. The director's solastalgic attitude meets the pragmatic reality of people who are already suffering from the consequences of climate change. Marina Hufnagel's main character Edda revolves around the virulent global question of why we find it so difficult to do anything, even though the disastrous consequences are well known? The semi-fictional narrative angle gives the HFF graduation film exciting insights into the climate protest, but at the same time also enables the touching story of two women who are no longer prepared to accept the ossified status quo. A film that inspires action instead of apathy! “Solastalgia” (Latin solacium = comfort, Greek root -algia = pain, suffering) The term was coined in 2005 by Australian natural philosopher Glenn Albrecht. It is defined as “the pain of realizing that the place where you live and love is being violated or attacked here and now. It is associated with a sense of belonging to a particular place, a sense of suffering from the change of that place, and an intense desire that the place where one lives be preserved as a possible source of comfort. While nostalgia is directed towards the past, solastalgia refers to the present or future. [...] Albrecht assumes that modern media, technology and globalization have blurred the concepts of direct experience and home. Solastalgia is therefore also possible for people who regard the entire earth as their home and therefore also experience the observation of the change or destruction of any place on this planet (for example on television) as stressful. In the 2015 report of the Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change, solastalgia is counted among the effects of climate change on mental health.” (Wikipedia)