Frauen, Masken und Dämonen

At the age of 17, the Hanseatic Schomburgk was drawn to Africa at the end of the 19th century, where he not only undertook numerous expeditions, but also discovered the medium of film for himself. For almost three decades he has documented animals and people all over the continent - and thereby enormously defines the image of Africa for German cinema audiences. For him, Africa is both an antipole and a vanishing point to the civilization in Europe, which is dominated by science and technology. Later, the Nazis abuse and forbid him to do further work because of his half-Jewish origins and destroy some of his archives. —Ulf Kjell Gür