As of: February 18, 2024, 9:00 a.m
By: Christiane Mühlbauer
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The young people from Ecuador with the film team.
One of her workplaces was the Hochland youth settlement in Königsdorf.
© Karsten Hinrichs
“Incoming” is the title of a new documentary film that follows young adults from Ecuador during their year-long voluntary service in Germany.
One of the producers is Sebastian Bugl from Benediktbeuern.
The film will be shown in the Tölzer cinema on Wednesday (February 21st).
Benediktbeuern – The World Church Department in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, headed by Sebastian Bugl, offers young adults the opportunity to complete a voluntary social year abroad.
Since 2009, volunteers from Germany have been sent to Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia, and since 2012, young adults from Ecuador have been given the opportunity to have this experience in Germany.
Before the 2021/22 exchange year, the idea arose to make a film about the five volunteers from Ecuador.
The idea came from Bugl.
“I am very interested in film and like formats such as '37 Grad' on ZDF,” says Bugl.
He knew the filmmaker Karsten Hinrichs from Freising through smaller projects in earlier years.
“The Ecuadorians were also very open to the idea,” says the Benedictine resident.
Lots of conversations and visits
How do you adapt to a foreign culture?
This central question formed the starting point of the film.
Hinrichs accompanied the South Americans Paola, Wilmer, Jorge, David and David throughout the year.
Not only did he conduct many long, intensive interviews, but he also visited them at their workplaces, with their host families, at Christmas and accompanied them on excursions.
If you compare the motivation for when and why young people go abroad, there are big differences between Germany and Ecuador, reports Bugl.
Germans usually do this after graduating from high school in order to gain life experience abroad for a year and then to orient themselves professionally.
As part of the exchange program, contact persons are available to you, and there are many host families in Ecuador.
The number of applications is large
Of course, the Ecuadorians also have contacts in this country.
“But finding host families here is not easy,” says Bugl.
The South Americans are usually between 22 and 28 years old, have already a job and some have also studied.
“The parents there are not necessarily open to a year abroad,” says Bugl.
“Many even see it as a lost year for their children because there is no professional certificate.” But they have high hopes for the year in Germany.
Around 100 people apply every year, and there is then a selection process in which a certain level of German must be proven.
Sebastian Bugl, Head of the World Church Department of the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising © Archive
Bugl: “A lot of things make you think and touch you”
During this time, the four men and one woman performed voluntary service in the Hochland youth settlement in Königsdorf, at the train station mission in Munich, in the Attl Foundation near Wasserburg (work with the disabled, among others), in the youth center in Schwabing and at the Kolping lunchtime care in Poing.
In the film they talk about the challenges in their everyday lives, about successes, about failures, about wishes and dreams.
“It was a lot of effort for everyone to adapt to a culture that doesn’t necessarily have open arms for strangers,” says Bugl.
In Ecuador, society is patriarchal and community aspects are important.
In Germany, however, people live individualistically.
“In the film, a mirror is held up to us Germans,” says Bugl.
“A lot of things make you think and touch you.”
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Shown in cinemas and at festivals
Not many people have seen the film yet.
“But those who know him report that many of the sentences stayed with them in their heads for a long time,” says Bugl.
The premiere was in Munich last year, and there have now been performances in Fürstenfeldbruck and Münster.
Bugl is trying to make as many cinemas as possible aware of it, and perhaps “Incoming” will also be shown at the Five Lakes Film Festival.
The next stop is now in Bad Tölz.
Bugl hopes that many visitors will come.
Performance in Tölz:
The film “Incoming” will be shown on Wednesday, February 21st at 8 p.m. in the Capitol cinema on Tölzer Amortplatz.
Bugl is present, and after the film there will be an opportunity for questions and a conversation moderated by Roland Gruber from the district education center.
Entry costs 9 euros.
If you would like to show the film, you can contact Sebastian Bugl by email: SBugl@eomuc.de
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