Journey to the Sun (Ansgar Schaefer, Susana de Sousa) Portugal |

Journey to the Sun
Ansgar Schaefer, Susana de Sousa
Portugal. 2021. 109 min

Journey to the Sun reflects on children in situations of conflict and post-conflict, and the potency of their gaze in revealing the realities obfuscated by official narratives.

Just after the Second World War, 5,000 young children were sent from Austria to stay with host families in Portugal, where they could recover from the violence of war. They were often welcomed in by well-to-do families with domestic staff living in sunny villas, and for most of the children this was a holiday in paradise. The contrast with their living conditions at home, and the huge difference between the lives of rich and poor in Portugal in this period, made a deep impression on the young Austrians.

Filmmakers Susana de Sousa Dias and Ansgar Schaefer assembled a huge quantity of images from this time, in countless photo albums and archives. Carefully composed sound effects enhance the immersive atmosphere of this little-known story, while off-screen the former “guest children” recall this extraordinary, sometimes deliriously happy period that was also confusing for all concerned—hosts and guests alike. After about ten months, they were shipped back to Austria—with labels hanging from their necks like postal packages.

Journey to the Sun establishes multiple resonances with current-day Europe, where the space for the Other has been drastically reduced.

SUSANA DE SOUSA DÍAS

Susana de Sousa Dias has a PhD in Fine Arts (Audiovisuals), a Master in Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art, a 5 years BA in Painting and a BA in Cinema. She studied music at the National Conservatory and at the Hot Club of Portugal. Her works include Still Life – Visages d’une dictature (2005, Atalanta Prize and Merit Award, TaiwanIDF), 48 (2009, Grand Prix Cinéma du Réel, FIPRESCI prize, among others), Natureza Morta | Stilleben (installation, 2010), Obscure Light (2017) and Fordlandia Malaise (2019). She co-directed Journey to the Sun (2021). Her works have been shown at international film festivals and art exhibitions such as Berlinale, Visions du Réel, Sarajevo IFF, Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, Harvard Film Archive, PhotoEspaña, Documenta 14 (Keimena Program), etc. In 2012 she formed a female collective that directed Doclisboa-International Film Festival for two consecutive editions, opening up new sections such as Cinema of Urgency and Passages (documentary & contemporary art). She teaches in the Department of New Media at the Faculty of Fine Arts (University of Lisbon).

ANSGAR SCHAEFER

Ansgar Schaefer is co-founder of Kintop, general-manager (since 2012) and producer. He holds a PhD in Contemporary History of Portugal with a thesis in the area of Visual History (focus: Portuguese colonial wars). He has produced several feature documentaries, namely Journey to the Sun (world premiere IDFA 2021), Fordlandia Malaise (Berlinale 2019), About everything about nothing (Locarno Film Festival 2018), Obscure Light (Cinéma du Réel, Paris 2017), 48 (Grand Prix Cinéma du Réel Paris, OPUS BONUM, Jilhava 2010, FIPRESCI Prize Leipzig, 2010, as well as several multimedia installations. He co-directed Journey to the Sun (2021) and The Other War (2010). He has several national and international publications on Jewish emigration to Portugal during World War II. He co-organised and co-curated the exhibition “Portuguese Forced Labourers in Nazi Germany” (Centro Cultural de Belém).