An ancient birth ritual, still performed today. Words from a language long forgotten are sung as an invitation to life. A mother’s footsteps trace protective spells around her newborn, while flames struggle to exist against strong winds. Inspired by a rare moment in history — a landmark court case where, defying silence, a woman achieves legal recognition for her daughter, born of a love affair in Egypt — within a system where a father’s refusal denies a child a name, legal identity, and basic rights. Birth stays away from the courtroom and instead asks cinema to make a life visible from the very first breath.

A composer recounts a dream from his youth that inspired the slow movement of his first string quartet, Prayer of the Sea. The dream, depicting a peaceful dissolution into the sea and wind, symbolized his future death. Decades later, rediscovering a drawing from the quartet's premiere - perfectly capturing the dream’s essence - revived its emotions. Now older, he reflects on the dream’s message: a serene acceptance of life’s inevitable end. Prayer of the Sea is an audiovisual elegy offering a calm perspective on the universal experience of passing.

"Down By the River" explores the memorialization of Delfin Guerra and Raúl Garcia Paret, two Cuban contract workers in the GDR who died in Merseburg in 1979. Through a visual tour of the city, the film assembles audio fragments, Stasi files, letters, and Facebook Chats into a reflection on forms of memorialization and continuities of racismng.