1974

Director:
Wim Wenders

Screenplay:
Phillipp Pilliod

Director of Photography:
Michael Ballhaus

Editor:
Lillian Seng

Cast:
Lisa Kreuzer
Katja Wulff
Thomas Braut
Nicolas Bieger Marquard Bohm

Producer:
Eva Mieke

Production:
Bavaria Atelier/München für Westdeutsches Werbefernsehen/Köln

Length:
2 x 25 min.

Format:
16mm Colour

Original Title:
Aus der Familie der Panzerechsen
/Die Insel

Original Language:
German

Ute, an 8-year-old girl, keeps running away from home and the Youth Center in order to go on her own into the animal Kingdom. She spends hours in the Zoo standing in front of the crocodile pond, which gradually dominates her life and her dreams.

Monika Brehm who is in charge of one of the children’s groups at the Center, tries to enter the little girl’s world. She senses that Ute’s escape to the crocodile is an escape from her parents and the grown-up world.

She succeeds in convincing Mr. And Mrs. Hagedorn that their daughter is not malicious and deceitful, but that child and parents must see a psychotherapist. As a rule psychotherapists are overworked and there is a long waiting-list for patients, so once again Ute is left with her helpless parents and runs away more and more often to the Zoo, to her beloved crocodiles.

It is thanks to Monika Brehm’s sense of responsibility and her commitment that Ute finally manages to break out of her isolation.

The Island is a complete program in two episodes which was included in the acclaimed German television series
"A House for Us."