The Soil of the Namib – Dreams
Title: The Soil of the Namib – Dreams
Directed by
Country: Namibia
Duration: 26 minutes 7 seconds
SYNOPSIS
Far away, in the middle of the Namibian wasteland, on former German-colonial soil. Unsecured, threatening tunnels lead deep into a monolithic mountain. Major, Esmeralda and Peter are working in illegal mines, searching for gemstones. The vastness of the landscape belies the workers’ stuckness. It seems they have buried their dreams, caught in a vicious circle.
Directors’ Bio
Christian Zipfel
www.christianzipfel.com
zipfel.christian@gmail.com
+ 49 178 20 32 507
Filming experience abroad: Siberia, Turkey, Romania,
Bulgaria, Poland, Namibia & Indonesia
2022 Creation of a volumetric testimony of Holocaust survivors (3D archive)
2020 Wim Wenders scholarship for “Pestizid” (AT)
2018 Participation in the Venice VR competition at the 75.
Venice Film Festival
2016 – 2020 Studied documentary film directing with Stefan
Schwietert at the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf
2016 Nomination for the First Steps Award “Best Medium-Length Film
2015 – 2020 Scholarship of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation Art/Design/Film
2012 – 2016 Studied film directing with Hans Steinbichler at the ifs, international film school
in Cologne
Filmography as writer & director (selection)
2025 “Pestizid” (AT), Feature film, 90 min. – Production: Network Movie / Studio Zentral
Funding: Wim Wenders Scholarship & Film- und Medienstiftung NRW
2023 “The Lost Time”, VR game, 18 min. – Production: Filmuniversität Babelsberg
Funding: State of Brandenburg
2023 “The Soil of the Namib”, transmedia documentary series, 60 min. – production: Time Prints, funding: Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Saarland Medien & BKM
2019 “The rain that is falling now was also falling back then” – VR documentary, 38 min. – Production: Filmuniversität Babelsberg & UNATC Bucharest , World Premiere: 48th Montreal
Festival du nouveau cinéma
2018 “ROOMS” – VR documentary, 23 min. – Production: Babelsberg Film University,
World premiere: 75th Monstra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica la Biennale di Venezia
2018 “Place in the Sun – 110 years after the genocide” – Documentary, 20 min. –
Production: Filmuniversität Babelsberg & Deutsche Filmakademie, World Premiere: OFF18
Odense International Film Festival
2016 “The Bleak Farm” – Feature film, 30 min. – Production: International Film School Cologne,
World premiere: 62nd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen
2016 “Magadan – City Built on Bones” – Documentary, 77 min. – Production:
International Film School Cologne, World Premiere: 37th Film Festival Max Ophüls Preis.
Filmography as director (selection)
2021 “Terra X – Who owns the world?” – Docufiction, 3 x 43 min. – Production: Gruppe5Film, Broadcast date: May 2021
2021 “MYRIAD – 360” – VR documentary, 10 min. – Production: Interactive Media
Foundation & Filmtank , World Premiere: 50th Montreal Festival du nouveau cinema
2020 “Life is full of sunshine and beauty” – Feature film, 27 min. – Production: Filmuniversität
Babelsberg & rbb, world premiere: 54th Hofer Filmtage
Filmography as editor (selection)
2023 “Watch – Me” – Fictional series, 6 x 20 min. – Production: Drive Beta, ZDF
2020 “The Case You” – Documentary, 80 min. – Production: Filmuniversität
Babelsberg, IDFA: International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam
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