Festival Films A-Z

"Tod in der Zelle - Warum starb Oury Jalloh?"

Production

a&o buero
Robert Tasso Puetz Kunibertskloster 11.
50668 Köln
Tel.: +49-221-1391202

Camera

Marcel Kolvenbach, Christian Eichenauer

Cut

Maria Linden

Staff

Redaktion: Sonia Mikich

(Tod in der Zelle - Warum starb Oury Jalloh?)
D 2006, Regie: Marcel Kolvenbach, Pagonis Pagonakis, dF, 43 min.

Synopsis

Tod in der Zelle - Warum starb Oury Jalloh?It is 7 January 2005. It's lunchtime when the fire alarm goes off in a drunk tank in Dessau. Nobody stirs. Oury Jalloh, an African asylum seeker, doesn't have a chance and burns to death. Later, the police will claim that Oury Jalloh, whose hands and feet were tied, had started the fire himself. The film tries to reconstruct the case, examining the official version. It soon turns out that the two policemen, who have since been charged, have not paid attention to the fire alarm, or that they may have ignored it deliberately. Tod in der Zelle won the German Human Rights Film Award in December 2006. The jury was especially impressed with the fact that although "the title could have given the impression that the film was sensationalist, hyped-up and shocking, it is cleverly researched and not about sensationalism at all; it does not pass rapid judgement on those involved... Instead, the film shows that in our democracy there exist alert and committed people who are not satisfied with quick, superficial statements."

Dates

7107.10.200715:30Kommkino