“My Grandmother’s Appletree” is a documentary about the memories of my 96 years old grandmother who grew up during the Nazi regime in Germany. She described herself as apolitical and there are many things she can no longer remember. What happens to history when contemporary witnesses forget it? And what is the testimony of an apolitical follower?
Director Biography – Leandra Hoffmann
Leandra Hoffmann was born in 1995 in Bonn, Germany. From an early age, they felt drawn to the art of theatre. They pursued this interest through acting during high school and working as a director’s assistant after high school. Having gained an insight into performative narratives, Leandra started writing film scripts for short films noticing their vision was rather filmographic than theatrical. Together with a colleague from the theatre, they produced the first short film. To gain more insight into the construction of narratives and social debates, Leandra decided to study Literature and Politics while continuing to work in theatre and academics.
The ideas collected during the studies resulted in the script of “Our Country’s Beauty” a feature film of 92 minutes. The film was shot in 2017 and published in 2020. By 2023 the film was selected for several festivals, nominated for best feature three times, and awarded for Best Feature six times. Encouraged by this success, Leandra produced this short documentary as the final project of their Master’s at the Universiteit van Amsterdam.
| Leandra Hoffmann Director, Writer, Producer, Cutter, Speaker Our Country’s Beauty Christopher Deutsch Producer, Cutter, Postproduction Our Country’s Beauty Mattis Rinsche Soundesign, Music Our Country’s Beauty Juergen Hoffmann Speaker |
