Cineding Open Air Cinema at Hildegarten, Röckener Str. 44, Leipzig
Ojoboca (Anja Dornieden and Juan David González Monroy): Her Name Was Europa, 2020, 16mm, 76min
The aurochs, the preÂcurÂsor of modern cattÂle, is conÂsiÂdeÂred to be the first docuÂmenÂted case of exterÂmiÂnaÂtiÂon of a speÂciÂes. The last known aurochs died 1627 in the forest of Jaktorów, Poland. In the 20th cenÂtuÂry, attempts to reviÂve the aurochs began.
Ojoboca (Anja Dornieden and Juan David González Monroy), filmmaÂkers from Berlin, in their film Her Name Was Europa look into various difÂfeÂrent proÂjects that tried to reviÂve the aurochs. In the 1920s, German zooÂloÂgists Lutz and Heinz Heck deciÂded to start a breeÂding back proÂject. The broÂthers, who were direcÂtors of the zoos in Berlin and Munich, respecÂtively, cross-bred various modern cattÂle breeds, hoping to end up with a creaÂtuÂre that would resemÂble the oriÂgiÂnal aurochs.
The Heck broÂthers’ fanÂtastic goal conÂforÂmed to the ideoÂloÂgy of racial puriÂfiÂcaÂtiÂon which at that time was gloÂriÂfied by natioÂnal sociaÂlism. The Heck broÂthers attempÂted to reeÂstaÂbÂlish the aurochs’ bioÂloÂgiÂcal unity which they belieÂved had been degeÂneÂraÂted through domestiÂcaÂtiÂon. The aurochs was conÂsiÂdeÂred stronÂger, purer, and more beauÂtiÂful than domestiÂcaÂted cattÂle, and theÂreÂfoÂre corÂreÂsponÂded to the German ideÂal of an unspoilt, heroic nature.
Once the larÂgest European land mamÂmal, the aurochs was a symÂbol of German power and supeÂrioÂriÂty, but World War II baffÂled the breeÂding back proÂject. Heck cattÂle, the offÂspring of thoÂse expeÂriÂments, still live in Germany today. As a sciÂenÂtiÂfic enterÂpriÂse, howeÂver, the Hecks’ proÂject is conÂsiÂdeÂred a failure.
Heck cattÂle involÂunÂtaÂriÂly emboÂdy a paraÂdoÂxiÂcal view. This view values natuÂre as someÂthing whoÂle, pure, and untouched; and yet it triÂes to form it accordÂing to human needs and wisÂhes. Even today, natuÂre is being forÂmed in various ways in order to preÂserÂve it. The film looÂks into some of the psyÂchoÂloÂgiÂcal traces this striÂving left during the courÂse of its hisÂtoÂriÂcal development.