House 209
"Haus 209" tells the story of a woman who is used for a dystopian experiment of travelling to the "world beyond". A woman is a prisoner in a clinic of a crisis-torn country. Scientists research the possibility of travelling into the "other world" with the help of radioactive capsules. Test subjects are sent to the "beyond" to get advice from the "voices" of how to solve humanity's problems. The woman is fed radioactive capsules in an isolation chamber and gets close to the voices. After a brief meeting with a sorceress from life "beyond", the woman gives the scientists the solution to humanity's problems. However, the experimenters think the woman has gone crazy and have her killed. The woman manages to escape into the "beyond" at her moment of death. The film is constructed from still photos from various stays at the HELIOS-clinic for radioactive iodine therapy after thyroid cancer, of found footage from the 50s, and of microscopic images of cells and inner body activities. With the exception of 2 color clips, it is shown almost exclusively in black and white. Sound recordings from the interior of the clinic ward mix with electronic sounds, with Geiger-counter sounds and excerpts of songs by Debussy. The film is both homage and reference to Marker's "La Jetée", while the film's title refers to the ward in the clinic Berlin-Buch, where thyroid cancer patients are given their radioactive iodine therapy.
