The Last Impression
‘Perhaps I thought I could stop death by filming them. And at the same time learn to accept their disappearance.’
The filmmaker's trip to his German grandparents is fraught with anxiety. Will it be his last visit? Milan Büttner documents how his grandparents cope with everyday life together in the 70th year of their marriage. Their current fears become increasingly intertwined with the traumatic memories of the Second World War. When they receive guests in their small flat, however, they find serenity and peace.
Milan Büttner works as a filmmaker and writer in Basel. He studied art history and sociology at the Universities of Basel, Vienna and Hamburg. He is the author of several commissioned films in the field of art and architecture and teaches Videography & Storytelling at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Since 2014 he has been documenting the projects of iart. This international studio for media architecture realizes exhibition spaces, pavilions for worldwide events and media facades. At iart, he has also made films for exhibitions at the most prominent Swiss museums, such as Kunstmuseum Basel and Fondation Beyeler. He has been a member of point de vue since 2023, where he realized his first independent documentary film, The Last Impression.