Wellen Wende

Women reflect on their first year of motherhood and the many joys and challenges it brings. A gentle, curious and informative conversational documentary about postpartum life, of sublime analogue beauty.

Five women, one life-changing experience: childbirth, followed by the postpartum period. With it come massive bodily changes, and maybe even bigger ones in daily life, ranging from painting or cooking with a baby in one’s arm to new communities one becomes a part of. Individual experiences vary, of course, yet some situations and feelings seem unavoidable.

What makes Wellen Wende special is Josephine Ahnelt’s dedication to analogue filmmaking: shot on 16mm, there was no material to waste, leading to a focused way of observing occurrences, procedures and motion sequences – like rocking a baby to sleep or caressing the tiny human’s tummy or back. Details in tight close-ups dominate, trusting then synching the camera’s gaze and movement with the rhythm of daily life, which propels the film as a whole. A gentle, curious and informative conversational documentary that finds its sublime beauty as well as its intellectual depth in its dedication to the ordinary and its trust in life itself, whatever the challenges one faces on the way.

– Olaf Möller

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