The Markus Family

“The Markus Family” tells the story of Markus Anatol Weisse, who, despite being severely visually impaired, has astonishingly become a painter; he builds mechanical creatures and wishes he were a bio-robot himself—a cyborg. And he desperately wants to live in the city. In Berlin, where he was born. Markus lives with his mother and elderly father, the goats, a dog, and his computer in southern France—“at the end of the world,” as he puts it—in a biotope where the survival skills of creativity prevail. Every now and then, Eva comes to visit—an older actress and longtime friend with whom Markus shares a special bond of trust. A trip with his mother to Berlin, where they plan to take a “vacation from the countryside,” brings some confusion and an encounter with Fritz, a carpenter and singer. Fritz learns from Markus about the downsides of living in isolation in the French countryside—about the fears his disability brings him—but also about the magic and the language of imagination. About loneliness and the longing for love. — Elfi Mikesch

Elfi Mikesch, a cinematographer and director who has won numerous awards for her visual imagery, is considered one of the early pioneers of feminist-queer film. In her documentary work, she focuses on people and projects that fall outside the bounds of the norm, telling their stories of the search for identity and individual self-realization.