This depiction of scenes from everyday life is comparable to the wimmelbook: a form of wordless picturebook where the panoramic depiction of affirmative scenes from contemporary life evokes an optimistic sense of European community and identity. The experiences of navigating contemporary Europe, together and apart, same while different, are the themes of this short film. Real-life footage is cut alongside miniature model versions of reality. These include a diverse range of transport and types of housing: trains, airplanes, boats, ferries, taxis, cars; 1960s housing blocks, Victorian terraces, medieval old towns. The use of real and miniaturised footage calls attention to what is a ‘real’ image and what is not. The human figures in the live action footage, getting through their day, begin to look as cutesy and unreal as the miniature statues that fill the miniature model scenes. The film draws attention to the movement of people, and the role of industrialization and modernity in the creation of this movement. This is an affirmative and positive depiction of a contemporary European (German) society with great potential for use with children aged 4-7 years old to explore the social and geographic connections between peoples and places.
