9th GRAND PRIX NOVA, 2021
DRAMA. Switzerland - Holidays from Suicide
Production Company: Swiss Radio and Television. Authors & Directors: Birgit Kempker and Anatol Atonal. Sound engineer: Basil Kneubühler.
Technics: Anatol Atonal and Basil Kneubühler. Music and sound design: Anatol Atonal. Dramaturgy and editing: Johannes Mayr. Translation in English: Christopher Findlay.
Synopsis
Death. Letting go. Disappearance. These are the topics at the centre of the audio play by Birgit Kempker and Anatol Atonal. "Holidays from Suicide" does not follow a linear storyline, but is constructed like a music album that includes songs, interludes, and inserted texts. Birgit Kempker speaks and sings about her fear of dying, about final thoughts on the deathbed, or about how to best cross over "beyond" - wherever or whatever this "beyond" may be.
By her side is Iggy Pop, the last undead of pop music, a man who has died many deaths already. It is no accident that he was the model for the central character in the graphic novel "The Crow", a superhero risen from the dead. And more recently, the real Iggy Pop himself appeared as a zombie, on screen, in Jim Jarmusch's motion picture "The Dead Don't Die".
Iggy Pop is also present in "Holidays from Suicide". We can hear his real voice in direct quotes - sometimes tender, sometimes screaming, sometimes sober, sometimes intoxicated. Birgit Kempker and Anatol Atonal sampled his voice from countless interviews, films, and songs and integrated it into their audio play.
"You are the girl I never was", Birgit Kempker says once about Iggy Pop. However, Iggy Pop is more than a projection screen for her, he is a teacher who prepares her for death. He is her scout on the deathbed. And he is her partner in a very personal audio play.
English text (click here)
