What would you do if you only had one day to live? Martin Thiele and Philippe Zwick Eby, two young German film directors, have asked themselves this question, also seemingly popular in internet forums, and responded by creating the movie “Ma dernière danse”, which shows the last hours in the life of a young man in Paris.

The movie consists of two short films telling the same story: A young man wakes up one morning in his Paris apartment, which he then leaves to spend his day at different locations throughout the city. He doesn’t know that this day will be his last. The paradox is that the protagonist is preparing for his demise without any possibility of knowing it, somewhat contradictory to the title. Does he have a foreboding premonition? Does it happen by chance? Does he feel that his end is near? Each of the two directors has searched for his own, very personal, answer. The gist seems to be: If we live more consciously when we know the end is near, then why don’t we do it now?

It seems a meaningful distinction between the art of filmmaking and film as art, as with Thiele/Zwick Eby (and others), when the narrative steps back and allows the visual to reign. Films usually (not necessarily, though) follow a narrative. The narrative in these two filmmakers’ work, however, is contained in the subject matter and shows itself only as one which is visual.

Martin Thiele and Philippe Zwick Eby have already shown their works in numerous solo and group exhibitions. The film “Ma dernière danse” had its premiere in Paris and was subsequently shown, from March – May 2008 at the Samuelis Baumgarte Gallery and at Art Cologne 2008. Ma dernière danse

The new film by Thiele/Zwick Eby, “Deux frères. La femme. Le feu. La silence” was shown in the exhibition Strahl Dich Aus! (Radiate yourself!) in our gallery.