The Right to Forget

| The Body Is an Empty Mine
(BALi, KulturBahnhof Kassel)

When the filmmaker asks her father about her Swiss grandfather’s gold mines, he answers clearly: all the documents were burned, nothing remains, it must be forgotten. Her grandfather, Hans Mazenauer, was connected to Mobutu Sese Seko and the mining business in former Zaire during the 1980s. As she attempts to retrace his trade, the void in the family archives begins to echo a broader societal question. The film questions the ethics of inheritance, Switzerland’s involvement in extractivism, and the boundary between remembering and letting go.

  • +DokfestOnline
  • Duration: 25 Min.
  • Countries: Switzerland
  • Languages: English
  • Subtitles: English
  • Production year: 2025
  • Premiere: German Premiere

  • Director: Lisa Mazenauer
  • Camera: Lisa Mazenauer
  • Editing: Lisa Mazenauer, Orsola Valenti
  • Sound: Lisa Mazenauer, Thy Truong, Rico Langjahr, Till Aldinger
  • Production: Lisa Mazenauer
  • Nominated: Goldener Key