PFFB regular Jan Soldat is showing the oevre of his work at Volksbühne on Jan 21st, 2026 at Volksbühne Berlin!
Please note that the program is in German only!
About Jan Soldat
Born in 1984 in Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz), Jan Soldat spent the first years of his life in East Germany. After graduating from high school and completing his civilian service at the Chemnitz hospital, he began studying business mathematics, then switched to mechanical engineering, but dropped out and eventually turned to filmmaking.
Between 2006 and 2008, the first fictional short films were created at the Chemnitz Film Workshop within his circle of friends. Even these early works grappled with the question of how close the camera’s gaze can truly get to life. It is precisely this tension between intimacy and distance, between openness and reserve, that continues to define Jan Soldat’s films, allowing him to explore the depths of interpersonal relationships in their various forms. In these films, sexuality is never an end in itself, but rather a necessity, enabling him – in contrast to classical cinema – to truly pose and address the fundamental questions of human intimacy, power, vulnerability, and care. The first part of the program presents a selection of Jan Soldat’s early fictional short films, produced within the framework of the media education association “Chemnitzer Filmwerkstatt e. V.” (Chemnitz Film Workshop), as well as his first portrait films, created at the beginning of his studies at the Film University Babelsberg.
