Eva Weber
TFI Support
The Power of Words 2014
About
A London-based, German director working in documentary and fiction, Eva Weber has found acclaim with short films like THE SOLITARY LIFE OF CRANES, REINDEER and FIELD STUDY. Her films have won numerous awards at international film festivals, and she is the recipient of a Sundance Institute Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award. Eva’s film THE SOLITARY LIFE OF CRANES was described as “one of the most absorbing documentaries of the year” by The Observer, and selected as one of the top five films of the year in Sight & Sound’s annual film review. The multi-award-winning documentary was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK. Her mid-length film BLACK OUT (“An eye-opening doc…moves seamlessly between the straightforward and the poetic” – The Hollywood Reporter) received its US premiere at LA Film Festival and was broadcast on PBS. Her most recent fiction short FIELD STUDY was funded by the British Film Institute and nominated for the 2015 European Film Awards.
Other films include: THE INTIMACY OF STRANGERS (President’s Award at Full Frame Documentary Film Festival), CITY OF CRANES (Award for Best Documentary Short at LA Film Fest, broadcast on Channel 4 and POV), STEEL HOMES (premiered at IDFA with the North American premiere at Sundance), REINDEER (premiered at LA Film Fest with subsequent screenings at Sundance, Telluride, and AFI Fest), OF THE UNKNOWN for the Tribeca Film Institute’s “Power of Words” series in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation (with festival screenings at San Francisco Film Fest, Telluride and AFI Fest), and her most recent film SKYWARDS (premiered at Telluride Film Festival). She is a Sundance Screenwriter, Director and Composer & Sound Design Lab Fellow; and a Fellow of the Yaddo and MacDowell Artist Colonies.
The Spark
In the sweltering chaos of Kanpur, India, Radha is trapped between her new life as the only woman trainee at the local energy company and her past as an electricity thief. Drawn into an escalating spiral of corruption, bribes, and theft, she has to determine her own path to power.
Of The Unknown
A short visual meditation, Of The Unknown is set in Hong Kong where millionaires and the ‘working poor’ live side by side in one of Asia’s wealthiest and most densely populated cities. The film explores how our notions of freedom and happiness are shaped by the place we occupy, both literally and metaphorically, in our society. What is the importance of freedom when one faces a daily struggle for survival? Is it even possible to have dreams, or to dream, if one was never given any opportunities in life?
Mandela quote: "Where poverty exists, there is not true freedom."