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Jeden Monat nähern sich unsere Kolumnisten, die Berliner Filmemacher Dominik und Benjamin Reding, dem jeweiligen Heftthema
auf ihre ganz eigene Art und Weise. Geboren wurden die Zwillinge am 3. Ja nuar 1969 in Dortmund. Während Dominik Architektur
in Aachen und Film in Hamburg studierte, absolvierte Benjamin ein Schauspielstudium in Stuttgart. 1997 begann die Arbeit an
ihrem ersten gemeinsamen Kinofilm „Oi! Warning“. Seitdem arbeiten sie für Fernseh- und Kinofilmprojekte zusammen.

Each month our columnists, Berlin-based filmmakers Dominik and Benjamin Reding, approach the respective issue-specific
theme in their very personal way. The twins were born on January 3, 1969 in Dortmund. Whilst Dominik studied architecture
in Aachen and film in Hamburg, Benjamin graduated in acting studies in Stuttgart. They started working on their first joint
motion picture “Oi! Warning“ in 1997. Since then they have tightly collaborated for TV and cinema film projects.

An Essay by Benjamin Reding
I normally wouldn’t have made friends with Lea, I would have run away from her. I didn’t understand why they were doing this. Lea kept repeating everything any-
way. “Food, food, food. Island, island, island. Sun, sun, sun”. Completely crazy.
Lea is nuts. And she has a crooked mouth. And she always blathers. And she is only
seven years old and I am almost ten. And it is because of her that I have a scar on my Whenever I went swimming, Lea followed me to the beach. And when I went into
knee and a graze on my head. And yet I like her, at least a bit, in any case since the the village, the same thing happened. Then the other children made fun of her,
holidays: Mom and Dad had been standing at the kitchen table and Dad had called called after Lea and pulled her hair. And they were asking me: “You brother?” “No,
out: “Benny, this summer we will do it differently, we won’t go to any hotel but will be no”, I repeated and pretended not to know Lea. In the evening, we went to the tav-
renting a house, for a change. In Greece, on a remote island right in the Mediterranean. ern at the harbour and Lea and her parents also came along with us. And Lea’s
And neither do we go by car but by train and then by ferry. A real adventure!” The mother inquired about the monastery. Again the owner looked alarmed and again
island was small and circular and bare like a pizza made of stone. The landlord had he said “Ghosts live there!” And Lea heard it and then constantly repeated it after-
fetched us at the harbour and taken us to our house. This was painted completely wards. “Ghosts live there, live there ghosts.” Then she looked over to her parents
white, with blue chairs standing in front of it and wooden shutters at the windows. and cried. The next day, my Mom and my Dad took the ferry to a different island.
The owner of the house unlocked the door, opened the shutters and said to us: “There is a magnificent temple there”, Mom had said and packed her camera.
“Beautiful here”. Next to our house there was another house and yet another. But there Lea’s parents accompanied them and, before leaving, cautioned me: “Do not go
the shutters were all closed. “I just hope this is too far from the house. We will be back in
how it’s going to stay”, Dad stated. My parents time for dinner”. I secretly slunk away to go
moved into the large room with the television set swimming but Lea noticed and ran after me.
and I into the small one. It had a wooden bed “Ghosts live there”, she called out. Twenty
and a door to the garden. A lizard was sitting on times. Then she again looked frightened and
the floor but when I approached it and wanted cried. So I took her by the hand, looked her in
to touch it, it ran away. the eyes and said loud and clear “There are
The first days, I walked around the island togeth- no ghosts, nowhere!” and I walked with her
er with Mom and Dad. There was a beach and the long way up to the ruins. Down on the
an enormous rock opposite the sea and a small beach, the cicadas always made a hell of a
village with even more white houses and blue racket but up there they were quiet, you could
chairs. On a hill above the village stood old only hear the wind and the sea. The gravel
columns and marble blocks. “Antique”, Mom path ended and we continued up steep steps.
said and took pictures of it all. And at the highest And then finally we reached the ruins.
point of the island, really far away, there was a The dome of the church was half-way col-
church with domes and a wall around it but lapsed and the entrance door was barred. I
everything was empty and collapsed. “Too far was able to peep inside in-between the
away”, Mom said and didn’t take any pictures. boards. It was dim behind them and dusty
In the evening, we went out for dinner. To a tav- Foto: Dominik und Benjamin Reding and it smelled bad, like in our basement
ern located at the harbour. It smelled of algae when it rained. And then something moved.
and of diesel. The owner handed us the menu. Quite suddenly. Something large, under the
Mom pointed her finger at a picture of fish and debris. The ghost! I jumped up and ran with-
got squid rings and Dad at a picture with squid rings and got feta cheese and I at a out looking where I was heading. And then it went “bam!” and I was gone. Black,
picture with chips and got roast potatoes. The owner nodded and simply said “deli- dark, over. Somebody shook me awake and pulled me up. The sunlight was very
cious”. “What is that there?” Mom pointed to the hill with the ruins. Thereupon the glaring. “You fell down the old cistern”. A man wearing a beard and long hair
owner looked shocked, shook his head. “Monastiri. Abandoned. Ghosts live there!” pointed to a hole in the ground. He smelled a bit of smoke and beer. “You wouldn’t
We had already been living on the island for a week, Dad was reading thick books and have made it out of there on your own. You are really lucky I had been sleeping in
smoking a pipe, Mom was going for walks and taking pictures and I went swimming. the church. I do this during the summer. Actually, I myself am from Stuttgart.” I
When I got back to our house, there was noise next door. The shutters of the neigh- nodded and said thank you. “No, you have to thank her”. He looked at Lea. “She
bouring house were open and a man and a woman and a child were standing in front was calling. Again and again. Woitiste me! This is Greek and it means: help me.”
of the door. A girl. She looked strange. Beady eyes and a crooked mouth, she had. “Oh”, I said and then “Thank you, Lea.” This was when she smiled. I believe it was
“This is Lea”, the woman explained. “Say hello to Lea”. I really didn’t want to. Later for the first time during this holiday. We shook hands with the man and then
on, Mom said I should be nice to the girl. That she was ill, that there was something quickly made our way back to the village. In the evening, our parents came back
wrong with her head, her brain. “It isn’t the girl’s fault”. Lea’s parents were always on the ferry. They brought oranges for me and grapes for Lea. We didn’t tell them
practicing one sentence with her, she had to repeat it. I heard it into the night: anything about what had happened up at the ruins. Otherwise they would simply
“Woitiste me.” Again and again: “Woitiste me.” have worried far too much.

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