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Seven Times a Day We Bemoan Our Lot and at Night We Get Up to Avoid Our Dreams
Sieben Mal am Tag beklagen wir unser Los und nachts stehen wir auf, um nicht zu träumen
Seven Times a Day We Bemoan Our Lot and at Night We Get Up to Avoid Our Dreams is a short animated film that seems playful only at first glance—in fact, it tells the story of a life on the margins of society in a no less disturbing way. While the filmmaker is reading quotes from conversations with an invalid man from eastern Germany, for whom experiences of violence are part of everyday life, a mechanical ballet of light switches and plastic dolls is set in motion. German songs act as amplifiers of the horror that is conveyed without being depicted.
Bio Susann-Maria Hempel
Susann Maria Hempel (Germany, 1983) studied media design at the Bauhaus University Weimar. For the realisation of her experimental films, she received several working scholarships from the Thuringian Cultural Foundation, the Bremen Video Art Promotion Award, and the "cast&cut" short film scholarship in Hanover. Her experimental film Sieben Mal am Tag beklagen wir unser Los und nachts stehen wir auf, um nicht zu träumen received numerous international awards. In 2021-22, she was a fellow of the German Academy Villa Massimo in Rome.
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- This film was #62 in the “Greatest” Short Films of All Time 2025