Monsalvat - 11´23", colour, sound, Germany, 2012

The screen is dark, as if the film had not yet begun. One hears street noises, footsteps, voices.
A swan appears at the lower left-hand corner. Followed by several companions, it floats slowly across the surface of the screen. On this stage without shadows, a choreography evolves to Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin Overture. The strains of music mingle with sounds from the street.

At a temperature of - 17°C, the scene was filmed from a bridge under which the swans had gathered in a section of water not yet frozen. The birds move slowly, due to the extreme cold.
Light falls upon the scene from the fluorescent sign of a nearby restaurant. No reference to time or place is given.

As the swans’ ballet fades from reality, the memory of Monsalvat, mountain of the Holy Grail, remains.