Sand Girl
Logline
A film about the power of imagination. To lead her life, Veronika is completely dependent on the help of others, yet her exuberant interior world gives her strength.
Synopsis
Since her earliest childhood, Veronika Raila has been living with severe physical impairments and Asperger syndrome. She can neither speak, nor walk nor fulfill her everyday needs without assistance. When she was a child, her IQ tested zero. Today she studies at university, writes poetry and prose and can express herself with facilitated communication. Veronika possesses a keen mind and a heightened sensory perception. Within Veronika spaces open where reality appears as colors, sounds and abstract shapes. She processes these impressions in her poems and stories.
The documentary essay "Sand Girl" takes us on a cinematic journey to the young author's wondrous secret and captivating world. Through associative images, observations of everyday life and selected texts the film creates a space for touching encounters. The focus is less on illness and impairment than the quest for the life force itself — a poetic meditation about what we call mind and soul. The film was produced in close cooperation with Veronika Raila.
Trailer
Watch the Film
DVD
"Sand Girl" is available on DVD – including shipping within Germany.
Orders and enquiries:
info@worklights.de
Film Stills
Awards & Festivals
- Prize of the Ecumenical Youth Jury – DOK Leipzig 2017
- German Red Cross – Media Award 2018
- Grand Prix – Bosifest, Belgrade International Film Festival of Persons with Disabilities 2018
- Winner of the Special Jury Mention – Nepal International Human Rights Film Festival 2019
- DOK Leipzig 2017 – German Competition (World Premiere)
- Frauenfilmtage Bielefeld 2018 – Germany
- Handicap im Film Festival – Karlsruhe, Germany
- Picture This… Film Festival – Calgary, Canada
- Den Norske Dokumentarfilmfestivalen – Norway
- Salon Internacional de la Luz – Bogotá, Colombia
- EDOC Film Festival 2018 – Peru
- Neisse Film Festival 2018 – Germany
- SWR Doku Festival – Stuttgart, Germany
- Respect Human Rights Film Festival 2018 – Belfast, Northern Ireland
- Lisbon International Film Awards – Portugal
- Bosifest Belgrade 2018 – Serbia
- DOCSMX Festival 2018 – Mexico
- Filmfest Frauenwelten 2018 – Tübingen, Germany
- Film Art Days Saxony-Anhalt 2018 – Halle & Magdeburg, Germany
- Kassel Dokfest 2018 – Kassel, Germany
- Festival Cinema e Transcendência – Brazil
- FIPADOC 2019 – Biarritz, France
- SANFICI Festival Santander 2019 – Colombia
- Best of 2018 – Cinemateca Nacional del Ecuador, Quito
- International Human Rights Film Festival Nepal 2019 – Kathmandu
- Sydney Film Festival 2019 – Australia
- Porto Femme International Film Festival 2019 – Portugal
Credits
Mark Michel
Mark Michel & Veronika Raila
Ines Thomsen
Christian Schunke
Andreas Baltschun, Mark Michel, Ed van Megen
Florian Marquardt, Klangfee
Alex Komlew
Matthias Behrens, waveline
Florian Göthner
Marcie K. Jost
Peter Zorn
worklights media production in coproduction with Mark Michel
Funding
Development: Documentary Campus Masterschool 2012 · Kulturstiftung Sachsen · BKM
Production: Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung · FFA / BKM · Kuratorium junger deutscher Film · Kulturstiftung Sachsen · Crowdfunding
Supported by: Werkleitz Gesellschaft e.V. · Davis Lernverband