Nicht Fisch, nicht Fleisch

Michael lives in a village in the Black Forest in Germany. He was adopted as a baby from Korea. His German friends accept him as he is, but his looks keep reminding him of his background. Michael has the feeling that he has two identities and keeps asking himself the same questions: Who am I? Where are my roots? When he breaks contact with his adoptive parents, he suddenly has to face it all alone. He flees to a friend in Berlin. An encounter with the attractive Korean Jin Hi, who is very aware of Korean traditions, makes him feel forced to choose. But in the Korean community in Berlin, he is regarded as an outsider, if only because he has no knowledge of the Korean language and traditions. So he is condemned to live for ever between two cultures and to accept that the concept of ‘home’ can have many faces.`What does it mean to be German? I keep asking myself this question because I don’t know the answer.’ Those are the words of the director of Nicht Fisch, nicht Fleisch, who translated this question to the problem of dual nationality, recently posed by the CDU. A Korean acquaintance gave him the idea for his graduation film, but the film should not be regarded as a Koreanproblem film: the quest for identity is a universal theme.