A Wake

So, your life, or whatever is left of it, is there behind you, like a sinking ship on the horizon. You are slowly approaching the part where you cross items from your bucket list. You try to bring your bank account to zero; yes, it’s time to do some cleaning. You look back in anger, or maybe you had a good one so far, so you look back in pleasure. In any case, the first person you see or the first person you have to close the life case with is your father. And he…he is a long time gone. So you open the case without him attending. You talk to the ghost, the memory, to images of days past. Is it too late? Probably, but as the saying goes, it’s better late than never.

You invite another long-gone father to the party to make things easier or more complex; you don’t know yet. So now you have a German father on one side and an Israeli on the other. It’s a killer combination. But it’s not what you think; it’s far from that. It’s not your typical German Jew meeting. This time is post, post, post, that war. It’s personal; it’s between the two fathers and sons. It’s a private affair.

The two sons piece together their fathers’ histories through the remnants they left behind. Through a patchwork of memories, sometimes hazy, sometimes fractured, they weave a narrative of family secrets, untold stories, and the intricate web of relationships that shaped their lives. This is not merely a biography but an excavation of the past, a quest to find meaning in the debris of a fractured history. It’s grief archaeology.

Ghost Riders asks what it means to honestly know someone, whether father, son, or self, and what remains when everything else fades.

Developed and performed by Yosi Wanunu and Peter Stamer
Music by Peter Stamer
Visual and sound support: Michael Strohmann
Produced by Kornelia Kilga