Preparations for a Miracle – Films

Das letzte Königreich - Reisebericht einer Maschine

Tobias Nölle
Switzerland, Germany | 2024 | 88 min
World premiere
Language : German
Subtitles : English, French

A friendly android travels back in time to our present day and observes its human customs. Its wanderings spark some delightful conversations with its fellow machines. In search of a king from whom to extract valuable data, its system runs up against repression. This lively story takes us on a political journey of reflection on the environment and technology.

An android, parachuted into western Germany from a future in which humans no longer exist, discovers the sad fate to which machines – its fellow beings – have been reduced. Through the eyes of this science-fiction-accented character, we explore the surroundings of the real-life village of Lützerath, the open-pit mine of Hambach and its adjoining forest. Spectacular imagery lends a glorified quality to the sight of colossal diggers excavating lignite, a highly polluting type of coal. Supplied and owned by RWE – an acronym to watch out for like an ironic cameo – "Hitachi," "Gordon" and "258" tear up trees, gouge out earth and sink their teeth into a church steeple. Against this terrifying backdrop, Tobias Nölle takes a fairytale-esque approach to documenting the struggles of activists defending the Lützerath ZAD [zone à défendre], the eviction of residents and farmers by the police, ending in a heartbreaking conclusion. The thoughts of the dumbfounded visitor, conveyed through voice-over, open a philosophical window onto the spiral of self-destruction at work.
Cloé Tralci

Preparations for a Miracle, 2024
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Heimatland, 2015
René, 2007