A documentary portrait about the “emigrant of the year 2013,” Miroslaw Balonis, born in 1968, Polish businessman who has been living in Cologne for 20 years. A man of success, luck, or a charlatan? The film raises questions about identity and nationality in multicultural Europe.

Production: DE/PL 2016

The film presents a competition of patriotic song, held in a Polish primary school on Independence Day (11th of November). The director has been consistent with the black-and-white stylistics, which produces a splendid result. As viewers we watch the students of varying age and vocal abilities compete against each other. Their parents and grandparents observe the whole event with wonder, moved. The picture was screened at the Swiss festival VISIONS DU REÉL.

What was to be a coveted tour of a Japanese group around Europe had a tragic end. The 1969 events are remembered by a couple who went on their honeymoon at that time. Their story is illustrated by authentic footage recorded by Japanese tourists and a private journal, which is read out off-screen, full of euphoria and puzzlement with regard to foreign cultures. Who was its author and what did this journey become for him?