2024 Nominees

More Likely UFOs Will Fly Here (Eher fliegen hier UFOs)

Sutor Kolonko

GERMANY

- Feature Length Film

"More likely UFOs will fly here" by Ingo Haeb tells a heart-wrenching story of the Baumanns family, who are losing their home and business to the brown coal industry in Germany’s lower Rhine region. The images director Gina Wenzel and co-director Haeb choose are harsh in places and realistic in the best sense. They emphasize that there are real people and a real drama behind this story which Haeb researched for years. However, the film is also characterized by lightness, humor, and warmth, especially through its wonderfully layered and authentic characters. Johanna Gastdorf as Marita Baumanns is like the Frances McDormand of German television - grounded, stoic, and hopelessly optimistic. The film effortlessly jumps through its timeline of five years, mostly accentuated by global events like the pandemic that cancels the carnival in Niersdorf. The Baumanns have long left Niersdorf when they learn that Ukrainian refugees are moving into their old village.