farEAST

The 21st century is the “Asian century”. Our future will unfold between Istanbul and Tokyo, from Tehran to Samarkand, from Bangkok via Ho Chi Minh City to to Peking. An Asia full of contradictions will hold the fate of the world more and more. An Asia, where traditions are intertwined with fast-paced dynamics, an inevitable destiny with the belief in technological progress, and poverty with unimaginable wealth. Was Asia ever so alluring and full of promises and, at the same time, as mysterious as of today? Never before a film team has dared to cross the high plains of Iran, the rain forests of Myanmar, the deserts of China and the mega-cities of Japan on one single journey. In over six months time we will be driving from Berlin to Tokyo, covering a distance of over 27,000 km (16,777 miles) on one single street; the “Asian Highway No.1”. Always in search of exciting and moving stories, the viewer will experience the journey at close hand, with all its challenges, setbacks, but also with its unique, beautiful moments. The team will constantly ask itself: Will we make it? Will we arrive at our destination? From Berlin to Istanbul in one go. Prague, Budapest and Belgrade are but way stations. In Istanbul, the team reaches the border of Europe. First encounters at the Bosporus. An Imam works as a counselor in an urban hotspot of the Turkish metropolis and a coffee cup reader predicts the course of the journey that lies ahead of the team - it appears that it will not be entirely smooth. In Ankara, the team is confronted with more recent Turkish history, while in Anatolia it uncovers the tracks of a long-gone empire. In the village of Akdag that is inhabited only in the summer, they come across Turks from Munich and Berlin and on the Ararat mountain, they meet a man who guards Noah's ark - or what he believes to be the ark. Now, there are almost two-thousand kilometers, all the way across Iran, ahead of the travelers - if they receive permission to cross the border...