Film evening:
"The dead birds are upstairs"

The film tells the unusual story of the director's great-grandfather, Jürgen Friedrich Mahrt (1882-1940), who amassed an extraordinary natural history collection: hundreds of stuffed birds, thousands of butterflies and beetles, mushrooms and other finds from his homeland. Mahrt documented the local wildlife with meticulous dedication, collecting, preparing and cataloguing specimens and recording his observations in photographs and hand-coloured pictures.

Sönje Storm's film combines these historical images with the present day: while Mahrt preserved the biodiversity of his homeland, landscapes and habitats have changed drastically - moors are disappearing, bird species are becoming rarer and the influence of humans on nature is becoming visible. The documentary imagery, combined with atmospheric editing and sound design, creates a poetic yet thought-provoking portrayal of this small world in transition.