START > NEWS > Officially released: Eye to Eye? Memories of a Friendship
Officially released in September 2015
BETWEEN EQUALS? MEMORIES OF A FRIENDSHIP
Documentary, 93 minutes
by Thorolf Lipp
German & English versions
At the age of 24, filmmaker and anthropologist Thorolf Lipp visited the legendary landdivers of Pentecost in Vanuatu for the first time. Impressed by how persistent the Kastom-Sa have defended their way of life against Western influences, he returns there again and again over the next 15 years. Over time, a close friendship is formed between Thorolf and Bebe Malegel, a young chief of the village. The idea is born to invite him and four other men for a return visit to Germany. Another five years later the journey is about to happen, the landdivers from Bunlap are expected in Bavaria. But shortly before their departure a tragedy takes its course: out of jealousy, greed for money and striving for power Bebe Malegel is murdered. The whole project is on the verge of failing. Only in the very last minute another way opens and an unexpected adventure begins.
The film is currently being submitted to festivals worldwide.