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We Might As Well Be Dead wins Jury Award for Best Cinematography

By Dwight Casimere

Best Cinematography in an International Narrative Feature went to Jan Mayntz for We Might As Well Be Dead in International Premiere. The German, Romanian film in German and Polish with English subtitles happens in a near-futuristic world where residents of an idyllic apartment complex, completely isolated from the threatening, but unseen world outside, is suddenly upended by a seemingly small, but unsettling event. Directed and written by Natalia Sinelnikova, the film is a searing commentary on the tribalism, false narratives and conspiracy theories that dominate the social and political landscape of today.

The protective cocoon of the heavily fortressed complex is suddenly pierced by the mysterious disappearance of a dog. Of course, we are never quite sure if this is a real occurrence, or the imaginings of an elderly male resident, Gerti Posner (an animated Jorg Schuttauf) who is fast becoming more delusional by the moment.

Rigid rules of conduct are in place, rigidly enforced by security officer, Anna Wilczynska, played with laser intensity by Ioana Jacob. She is somewhat of an outsider herself, being a Jew in a larger German-inhabited development. Because of her position, she is bereft of friends, who fear her edicts and constant surveillance. Her sense of isolation is exacerbated by her grown daughter Iris (Pola Geiger), a hyper agoraphobic who refuses to leave the bathroom of their tiny apartment, making Anna a virtual prisoner inside her own apartment. There’s one hilariously gross scene that will be familiar to anyone who had college roommates. The sense of impending doom befalling residents from the outside world is ever-present. It is to the extent that the father of a local family literally begs on bended knee to be allowed to enter the sanctuary after spending months wandering the countryside with a large axe in hand.

Director Sinelnikova imbues the film with her own sense of being an outsider in society. She emigrated from St. Petersburg to Germany as a Jewish quota refugee in 1996. In many ways, the film embodies her personal experience, which is amplified in the extreme. Her film was nominated for Best Film at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival.

We Might As Well Be Dead is haunting, yet very prescient commentary on the world we live in today, were suspicion and fear of an amorphous unseen enemy and of those who are identified as outside the norm are the order of the day. For more, visit tribecafilm.com.