In Sarmatia

Volker Koepp travels once again to Sarmatien, the region that has meant so much for his filmmaking process. Today the region can be understood as comprised of modern Ukraine, Southern Russia and also, to a smaller extent, the north eastern Balkans around Moldova. Like a wandering pilgrim who cannot help but roam the places he loves, the director traces back his own steps to a place he has explored over the decades of his long filmmaking life. Going back to a region he has studied and explored over and over means for Koepp an appraisal of all the political transformations that have affected it. Thus the film becomes a study of Europe and its ever-shifting boundaries in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall, as well as an essay on the heritage of what is left today of the stories and the Histories that have shaped Europe from the end of the Second World War up to now. Ana Scutelnicu, director of the multi-awarded Panihida, lends a hand along the way. A loving exploration of a world and its people, In Sarmatien is a multi-layered film from Volker Koepp, a true master of contemporary cinema.

Giona A. Nazzaro