WOOD AND WATER
A FILM BY: JONAS BAK
Director, Writer and Editor: Jonas Bak
Starring: Anke Bak, Ricky Yeung, Alexandra Batten, Patrick Lo, Theresa Bak, Patrick Shum, Edward Chan, Susanne Johnssen, Lena Ackermann, Amy Aceituna and Christel Johnssen.
Music: Brian Eno
Feature Film)
Run time: 1hour 19 minutes
Country: Germany, and Hong Kong
Language: German, English and Cantonese
WOOD AND WATER will be released theatrically in New York (MOMA) on March 24 with a Los Angeles and national release to follow.
WINNER! BERLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL- SPECIAL MENTION: COMPASS-PERSPEKTIVE-AWARD
OFFICIAL SELECTION: NEW DIRECTORS/ NEW FILMS FESTIVAL
With seamless grace, German director Jonas Bak moves from the tall spires of the Black Forest to the teeming skyscrapers of Hong Kong in his tranquil, deeply moving feature debut. Newly retired from her church job, Anke dreams of spending time with her grown children—including her uncommunicative and elusive son, Max, who has been living for years in Hong Kong, and who is unable to join his mother and sister back in Germany due to the ongoing pro-democracy protests.
In a daring decision, Anke, though suffering from loneliness and loss, travels to Hong Kong to find Max and perhaps also herself. The people she encounters, and her experience of the city help her to break down the inner walls she constructed years ago, and make way for a new chapter in her life.
In his hushed, wholly original approach to this fish-out-of-water set-up, Bak constructs a gentle, ambiguous fable of becoming, shot on 16mm and featuring a wondrous, naturalistic performance by his own mother, Anke Bak.
JONAS BAK - (Writer/ Director/ Editor)
Born in Konstanz in 1985, and now based in Freiburg, Jonas Bak studied film directing at Edinburgh College of Art before moving to London in 2015, and then Hong Kong in 2018 to work as a freelance film director and director of photography.
He wrote and directed two short films, WANDERDRACHEN (2016) and ONE AND MANY (2017), both of which were screened at international film festivals including Molodist, Curtacinema Rio de Janeiro and Pacific Meridian. WOOD AND WATER (2021) is his first feature film.
ABOUT KIMSTIM
KimStim is a Brooklyn-based, full-service distribution company dedicated to releasing exceptional independent, foreign, and documentary films. KimStim brings to the US, and North American audiences selected films from around the world gleaned from the most prestigious film festivals and includes top prize winners from Sundance, Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Berlin, and Tribeca. Signature releases include Hu Bo’s epic masterpiece, AN ELEPHANT SITTING STILL, the 2020 Oscar Shortlisted Best International Feature HOPE, and HAPPY HOUR by the Oscar-Nominated Director of DRIVE MY CAR, Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
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