Finding beauty in the ordinary, Liverpool takes centre stage in this year-in-the-life documentary portrait.
Communities and voices are observed from a fresh perspective as the city navigates through an eventful year.
Mirroring the ebb and flow of the River Mersey, LIVERPOOL STORY is an intimate document of daily life, observing the city and its people over the passing seasons.
A poetic memoir and political report, shot in Berlin and Leipzig, and in landscapes around the British Isles. The film’s narrative builds out from the events of the Reichstag Fire in Berlin in 1933 in which the pioneering German-Jewish sound recordist, Ludwig Koch, on whom the film ultimately centres, plays a minor role, placing him and his family in danger. The film is structured in two parts, juxtaposing Koch’s persecution in Nazi Germany with his experiences as a refugee recording bird song and other sounds in Britain.
The film’s images of contemporary urban and rural terrains, and of objects and documents, create a collision between past and present. Shifts in time are further emphasised through the use of Koch’s original sound recordings from Germany and Britain which feature throughout the film.