AUTOBAHN

Bad Oeynhausen in North Rhine-Westphalia is indeed internationally known as a traditional health resort – but not so much because of its thermal springs. Bad Oeynhausen lies on the old trade route from Amsterdam via Berlin to Warsaw, which still functions today as one of the main traffic arteries in Europe. Here in the spa town of all places, a small piece of motorway has been missing for 40 years. Flower dealers from the Netherlands, craftsmen from Poland and German North Sea tourists – a total of 25,000 trucks and cars push through the city every day and stop at the Bad Oeynhausen traffic light – the only one between Warsaw and Amsterdam. Miles and miles of traffic jams are the norm. Detour? Impossible! You have to go through here.... AUTOBAHN is a long-term documentary portrait of Germany, of the small citizen who has to submit to it all, of bureaucracy, of large construction projects that are delayed, and politics, and above all: a film about normal life.

Director

DANIEL ABMA was born in 1978 in The Netherlands and studied at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF. His award-winning films include: the documentaries BEYOND WRIEZEN (2012), HOLANDA DEL SOL (2013), TRANSIT HAVANA (2014) and AUTOBAHN (2019).

Daniel Abma (© Susann Jehnichen) photos © David Schittek