"A question that has been on my mind every single day for years: Am I the only one who can't get the images out of my head?
My thoughts revolve around the crystal clear memory of the day when the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl exploded, the Berlin Wall fell and the planes flew into the Twin Towers.”
Filmmaker Caroline Rosenau looks for interpersonal encounters in order to break out of the filter bubble that influences our view of the world. Conversations with family, friends and acquaintances repeatedly revolve around topics that leave our microcosm. Experiences that we don't have together, but that we ALL have experienced.
“I don't think there is anyone who can't remember it.” ON THIS DAY – Rüdiger Walter
The film asks about complex issues to which weh ave no right or wrong answers.
Whether social, economic or ecological problems that have been with us for now 40 years, the events of the Chernobyl accident, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Nine Eleven and the currently ongoing corona pandemic do not seem to give us any easy solutions or real changes in terms of shaping our future. Same we do experience with the ongoing energy crisis, the ukrainian war & the global warming. And all these impacts, which are running at the same time, we are more or less groping in the dark and hoping for change.
All the events of the past four decades shaped generations and still shape our society today, but it seems as if history is repeating itself over and over again.
Paralyzed, whether indirectly or directly affected, the flood of information on television, in the world wide web , in newspapers or on the radio is followed without being able to intervene in the course of time.
Eight people of different generations remember clearly ON THIS DAY as well as the period of time that followed and give the audience an insight into their innerworld and impulses on how to escape the hamster wheel without having to save the whole world at the same time.
But it's not just the events that are burned into our memories, we remember the day, when it happpened, with a crystal clarity. In search for the stories of the protagonists, caroline comes across the different perspectives on what happened.
Did the Chernobyl cloud stop just before the border of the Bavarian Forest?
Was the Chernobyl disaster communicated as such in East Germany at all?
Was the fall of the Berlin Wall in East Germany really as great a success as the Western media portrayed it?
What did the terrorist attack on September 11 mean for us in Germany? And are the current incidence values and death numbers now just a factual statement that no longer reaches us emotionally? Almost a year later, how shocked are we by the news of the war in Ukraine?
The base for ON THIS DAY:
A regional microcosm of people from the most diverse backgrounds. The distance between the author and her protagonists is small, colleagues become friends. Conversations take place in an authentic and pleasant atmosphere, everyone reports as if the camera weren't even rolling.
Eight perspectives from different generations report their very personal stories from this one day.
A living room atmosphere is created in which the audience sits right in the middle. In an relaxed conversation, the protagonists give an insight into their innermost thoughts and feelings.
But why are the protagonists no experts?
They are people like you and me. Their stories are linked to our experiences and broaden our view of the four global turning points. A journey into the past of our very personal microcosm, which is linked to the memories of others and shows:
HOW DIFFERENT NORMAL CAN BE!
Our documentary ON THIS DAY wants to shake people up, set impulses and move them to an awareness that we do have an influence on our timeline. We just have to be clear about what we want and where we want to go.
"This disaster is the result of an unreserved belief in the wisdom of the free market, prioritizing profits over security and ignoring the scientific evidence for climate change." ("This disaster is man-made." A column by Heike Buchter/Zeit Online)
Audience
ON THIS DAY is aimed at everyone who remembers the four global events and those who are interested, who would like to learn more about these events and who are interested in how we deal with today's news and media consumption. In addition, our film is aimed at all those who ask themselves: How will we deal with it in the future and what can we change or improve?
Our Motivation
The personal stories of our protagonists are in the focus. They make the movie with its past events and their personal memories on it, visible and noticeable to the audience.
They transport these events into our current world.
With our documentary we would like to show different approaches and ways of thinking - of how we can better sensitize and filter our awareness of our daily use of media, the news and the information by looking at "Our world of tomorrow".