For many people, the desert is not only an inaccessible, inhospitable place, but also a refuge, a place of mysticism where man realises his insignificance and catches a glimpse of something greater than himself. Filmmaker Felix Tissi filmed in deserts all over the world and followed a number of temporary inhabitants, including scientists, artists, eccentrics, and wandering souls. One man is following the trail of Moses, the Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites through the desert out of Egypt. A solitary woman collects stones and fossils, while an artist paints and shapes the face of a mountain. The film incorporates footage of a 1950s-era nuclear test in the Nevada desert. And nowadays, in the same desert, the Burning Man Festival attracts thousands of oddballs. The film explains little, but records man’s quest by means of subjective imagery, accompanied by music and the protagonists’ thoughts in the voice-over. The vast, almost extraterrestrial desert landscape tells the rest.
Felix Tissi
Felix Tissi is born in 1955 in Thayngen. 1976-79 Attends University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Film and Television Department. Since 1979 works as a freelance scriptwriter and director. Filmography: ‘Desert – Who Is The Man?’ (2007), ‘Flaschen und GoÅNtter’ (2003), ‘Viva la muerte – Es lebe der Tod’ (2000), ‘Who’s next?’ (1999), ‘Schlaraffenland’ (1995), ‘Till’ (1988), ‘Noah und der Cowboy’ (1985).
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Desert - Who Is the Man?
Switzerland
2007, 80', color/bw, video
Directed by:
Felix Tissi
Screenplay by:
Felix Tissi
Cinematography:
Cécile Keller, Pierre Reischer, Felix Tissi
Edited by:
Felix Tissi
Music:
Mich Gerber
Producer:
Dieter Fahrer
Produced by:
Balzli & Fahrer Filmproduktion
