When Fire Turns to Ash

When Fire Turns to Ash is an essayistic documentary that explores the history of Tierra del Fuego, its vanished cultures and empty natural landscapes, and creates a de-colonized reading of the landscape. The voice-over narration is composed of a wide variety of literary sources: historical travelogues, ethnographic writings about the indigenous population, myth collections, Darwin’s nature studies and contemporary genocide research. From these, a loose narrative thread is assembled that winds its way through the history of Tierra del Fuego. Different events are highlighted from the stream of history and illuminated as examples. There are several levels in the film: the images depict the present, while the narrative describes the past and the interviews with indigenous representatives describe the effects of colonialism.

The film focuses on the interface between nature and disappearing culture. I try to find the traces of absence in Tierra del Fuego today. I am convinced that history is inscribed in the landscape and that the absence caused by the genocide can be felt. The film is intended to make the invisible tangible and question my own tourist view of the “beautiful”, seemingly empty landscape.

When Fire Turns to Ash is the third installment in the Ecological Grief Series, which focuses on various aspects of human interaction with nature in the Anthropocene. I try to explore environmental melancholy and the loss of places, species and ecosystems. After animals and inanimate matter, this part focuses on marginalized human groups. (Director's Statement)