In the middle of Brussels, “the heart of Europe,” an Audi factory is closing. Production of the hybrid Q8, priced at 100,000 Euros, is moving to Mexico and 4,000 people are set to lose their jobs, among them Ali, Aziz, Joaquin and Mousse. They did the same work, but there is one visible difference: they have what is called a “migration background.” In Unmade in Germany German Mimi Zak portrays “the solidarity among the people behind the headlines and their fight against the unequally distributed consequences of Europe’s deindustrialisation,” read the project notes.
“The film stands with the people who carry the weight of this chaotic, hit-or-miss transformation on their shoulders,” producer Floris Steinbach stresses to Business Doc Europe. “It tells their story – and it’s a European story, not just a Belgian one. As we all know, the car industry is closing plants and cutting jobs all over Europe, and more and more of the empty factories are being considered for arms production. In Brussels it is being discussed, in Osnabrück it is planned, and in Berlin Wedding it is already happening. We’re witnessing it in real time, and we need to talk about it.”
Together with her cinematographer, director Zak, a student of political science and anthropology, spent 40 shooting days (and many more regular days), forming a tight bond with her protagonists.
“Whether I am fighting for the abolition of the car or of capitalism or for a speed limit on the highway, cars are an intrinsic part of our society,” Zak points out a dilemma at the heart of the film. “I cannot be for the working class, against the combustion engine and in favour of batteries run on cobalt from the Global South, all at the same time. This dramatic crisis shows that things are failing in every direction, and the current solution to remilitarize Europe shows the tragedy of our times.”
“The people who are least responsible for these problems and who cannot buy their way out of a precarious situation carry the failure of governments on their shoulders,” the justifiably righteous filmmaker continues. “Behind the headlines there are people, forgotten and pushed aside by corporations and states. At the same time structural racism keeps spreading in our society and our governments are moving quickly to the right. For me our film is a reminder of the sense of community that we are losing more and more.”
Unmade in Germany is made at Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF in co-operation with ZDF/3sat. A German-speaking broadcast is therefore guaranteed. “Most of the shooting is done, we’re in the edit, and completion is planned for spring 2027. We have the story, the trust and the material. What we need now are the partners to bring it to an audience, says producer Steinbach. “In Leipzig, what we want most is to meet people who see the same urgency in this topic as we do. People who feel, like us, that we need to talk about what is happening to the industry and to the workers who carry it.”
In concrete terms, he is looking for world sales representation, distributors, European broadcasters and partners who can help the filmmakers complete the post-production who can help finish the job. “We want to give the film visibility from the start, because the people behind the headlines need to be seen,” he says.
Zak further explains her rationale in taking on this subject. “I like to enter microcosms, places that can reflect a mirror image of our society back to us. As a director I have developed a fascination for immersing myself in male worlds, something I do not know and that is still so close to me,” she says.
“Socialised as female, I experienced the fascination with cars from an outside observer’s position, because joining in a conversation about cars was odd and seen as ‘masculine.’ I believe that we need to talk to each other and listen to each other, and that only this way can there be a coexistence and a society that does not exclude and does not fuel populism. And that is exactly how I see filmmaking. Spending time together, sharing, taking care of each other.”
Steinbach underlines the sense of imperative he and Zak feel to complete the project. “With every additional day in the editing room, our sense of urgency becomes more pressing,” he says. “The European industry landscape goes through a period of massive, existential change, but there seems to be no real media or political awareness for what that means, both for the workers affected by it and in terms of where all this is going.”
