Kukata Miti

Synopsis

A German filmmaker: Daniel Kötter. An Indonesian instrument maker and musician: Ikbal Lubys. A Congolese journalist and women's rights activist: Olande Byamungu.

Across Germany’s Bergisches Land, South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Kalimantan in Indonesia, the forests are all gone. This loss reshapes these regions at their core, transforming their landscapes, local ecosystems, and social structures.

The documentary fable Kukata Miti follows the trail of violence inflicted on people, societies, and ecosystems. The film asks key questions: What makes a forest a forest? Whom do we meet there, and how do we retell the relationship between human and non-human actors? Through shared research, Kötter exposes a world where catastrophe has already occurred.

Director Biography

Daniel Kötter

Documentary filmmaker and theatre director.

He has a strong interest in urbanization and political landscapes in Africa and West Asia. Between 2009 and 2015, he developed the series state-theatre on conditions of theatre architecture and urban performativity in Lagos, Tehran, Berlin, Detroit, Beirut, and Mönchengladbach (with Constanze Fischbeck). Between 2014-17, he worked with curator Jochen Becker on the research, exhibition, and film project CHINAFRIKA. His two films were awarded the German Short Film Award and the DEFA Award at DOK Leipzig. His most recent film won the award for Best Documentary from the German Film Critics’ Association.

Credits

Writing / Senaryo

Daniel Kötter, Ikbalm Lubys, Olande

Cinematography / Sinematografi

Daniel Kötter

Editing / Kurgu

Daniel Kötter

Music / Müzik

Ikbal Lubys

Sound / Ses

Luka Barajevic

Cast / Oyuncular

Olande Byamungu, Ikbal Lubys, Barhame Ntakobajira

Dramaturgy / Dramaturji

Anna Ptak

Production / Yapım

Daniel Kötter

, Beatrix Joyce