Babette

1996, Fränzi Madörin, Muda Mathis and Sus Zwick, toghether with Babette Zaugg, 15 mins, subtitles E/D, U-matic, color, 11 mins (excerpts), orginal can be ordered through www.mathiszwick.ch

A collage of images, conversations, poems, and music. Babette Zaugg talks about her experiences in a war zone. The video juxtaposes war and art, fiction and documentary, facts and fantasy.

Babette Zaugg, aid worker in a war zone
People there are extremely good at keeping it together. They are in the hospital, have lost their child or husband, the second child is without legs, but they keep going, are on the market for seven hours, trying to find something to eat. Everything is in pieces, but they flash a smile and say: I’m doing well, are you well too? And you’ve got some crap stuck in your head why you’re not feeling well, maybe the bread this morning wasn’t quite fresh anymore. I really feel like a wimp. They aren’t heroes, but they are standing on this shaky ground that they still have. And they take one step at a time. I think that’s the big difference between them and myself or the people we have here. We are always doing seventeen things at once.