SYLT

An unobstructed honest, deep and unique view of the North Sea Island Sylt .

The car train from the mainland to the island via the Hindenburgdamm is not only a necessity but a ritual. In fact, this crossing offers tourists relaxation after a long car ride. While the filmmaker's grandfather had to build the railway embankment to Sylt as a young man in the Reich Labour Service, we learn from a railway employee that this route is a real gold mine. If you're lucky, your car will find a parking space at the top of the parking deck. But there are also discussions with the railway staff as to which holidaymakers get the better seat. There is a disgruntled honk, as such disputes hold up traffic. A driver hands the instructor a 20 Deutsche Mark bill to be allowed to drive up to the top and is successful. Everyone then parked quickly. Then people lower the window, turn on the radio, bite into the bread and let the train take them across the Wadden Sea for almost an hour. The fresh wind blow through your hair. And some motorist, who had previously complained about the constantly rising prices of the train, then calmly leafs through the Sylt magazine and feels pure anticipation.

The only discounter on Sylt is always extremely crowded. There is a long wait for parking spaces. Here are a few short statements from holidaymakers who make it clear that you prefer to cook for yourself on holiday and not always go out to eat. That would be expensive. Saving money on Sylt? After all, the car train and daily tourist tax cost money, in addition to accommodation, of course. The beach guard or inspector from the beach in Westerland explains why guests have to pay tourist tax. Then there is a short interview with the beach chair valuer, who meanwhile throws visitors out of a beach chair who have not paid. Order and bureaucracy must also be on holiday. We accompany two protagonists from Hamburg who, without having previously booked accommodation, then go looking for an apartment. At the main train station, bids for rooms are posted and the Kurverein advises. In addition, there is a young woman from Sweden who had already booked an apartment months earlier, but found it dirty and is now desperately looking for new accommodation. In fact, something like this happens to almost every long-time visitor to the North Sea island and is sometimes very stressful and grueling. Especially when there are children who have to go to the toilet. That's why a family from Oberhausen simply rings the bell of an apartment building in order to be able to use the sanitary facilities for final money. The relationship between the islanders and the holidaymakers is partly cordial, partly stressful. And yes, contrary to all assumptions, Sylt is very much on a low budget.

There are small rooms with breakfast at islanders. Then there is the campsite and, for young people, the youth hostels. The island relies on tourism and even the smallest horse stable is worth a fortune due to the high demand for the limited habitat on the island. Real estate prices that generate astonishment, as a broker tells us. Where does the saying come from that Sylt is the island of the upper class? In addition, a Saturday evening will be shown in Kampen. The legendary Pony opens later, but the glitterati also cavorts around it in the bars. Particularly striking is a pensioner in a Rolls- Royce convertible who drove up and down the street 35 times within an hour, just to be seen. But you do not have fun in Kampen.

Football stars such as Beckenbauer, Müller and Schuhmacher play at the charity football match in Westerland. They later sign autographs for young people. Fashion designer Moshammer walks along the beach in Westerland without a wig with his dog in his bag and the filmmaker has Alice Schwarzer living across the street from him in Eidumweg. She also fetches rolls from the bakery Abeling in the morning.

There are bike paths, an indoor tennis court and even a shooting club on the island. Bodil's pony farm is accompanied on a ride to the Wadden Sea. Of course, down-to-earth islanders are also interviewed. The surfing world championships are held annually on Sylt. Recordings of surfing skills are presented with two short interviews of participating surfers: Robby Naish and Björn Dunkerbeck. The school for windsurfing on Sylt will also be asked afterwards whether the World Championships would bring more customers.

This documentary was made in the summer months of 1993 to 1997. The focus is on August 1994, when many day and weekend tourists populate the island and especially the town of Westerland thanks to cheap train tickets. Mass tourism has never been as significant as it is this year. What is annoying for the islanders, on the other hand, is a joy for teenagers like the filmmaker of this documentary. Yes, almost a paradise for teenagers. Everywhere thousands of young people play beach volleyball, populate the Friedrichstraße and party on the beach in the evening or dance in the nightclubs or queue up in front of the cinemas. You constantly meet someone new, have flirts, play football and beach tennis with new acquaintances. But a short time later, the cheap tickets were taken out of the program by the railway, also at the insistence of the city administration.

Sylt is almost somewhat extinct in the following year. Only a few teenagers and more citizens with small children linger by the sea. This is followed again and again by landscape shots cleverly interwoven with interviews, which are introduced with a camera pan on a map of Sylt to the respective location. In a nature reserve, there is an interview with a marine biologist about nature conservation on Sylt. The approach of this documentary is to capture a lot of real, undisguised island living. To let as many people as possible have their say. From the nouveau riche, who dines with his family in the evening in the Sansibar, to the ice cream seller who walks along the kilometre-long beach with his large ice bag and rings a large bell with his hand to draw the attention of bathers to his freezer. The good-humored saleswoman at the bakery as well as the seller of crêpe in Wenningstedt or the souvenir seller who offers mussels. The owner of a boutique for teenagers also has his say.

We see people illegally sleeping in a basket on the beach or secretly camping in the dunes. The fine restaurant Müllers is shown as well as the McDonalds. This gold mine in Westerland, in front of which there is a queue up to Friedrichstraße. Especially Saturday is brutal there. An unbelievable crowd, thousands of burgers go over the counter. We see young women dining at Leysieffer's, families sitting at Gosch in List or seniors eating cake in a teapot. Funny conversations, serious or even instructive when it comes to the annual alluvial of sandy beaches on the coast. But if you prefer guaranteed sunshine, you have to fly south. The weather of Iceland is very capricious. The viewer of this documentary gets a multi-layered impression of what Sylt is really like. Whether it's the lunar landscape at Lister Ellenbogen or the Rantumbecken.

Some people will think they have been on Sylt after watching the documentary and they also know that the cliché of the island is only a small part of the lot. Island of the rich and famous? No Sylt!