2026. Documentary Film-Essay, 9:50min
The film essay describes a “country in the West”, where the so-called “Non-Negotiable”, a metaphor for today’s reduced interpretation of German Staatsräson, serves as unconditional guiding principle in politics and society. Having turned doctrine, the Non-Negotiable brings with it suspensions, (self)-censorship and simmering fear when confronted with news from war zones. The title refers to the formula “This information cannot be independently verified,” which runs through the film as a refrain.
The narrator holds in inner dialogue in a split voice. While one part of his voice denounce war crimes and the Western government’s failure to act on it, the other part distracts with jokes and anecdotes about the whale “Timmy”. The whale is given a name, while the victims of war remain nameless numbers. The title refers to the formula “This information cannot be independently verified,” which runs through the film as a refrain.
Filming locations are the empty streets and squares of Berlin’s City West (Kudamm, Tauentzien, Breitscheidplatz) — the glittering Western city center of the 1980s, when the Republic first negotiated its Staatsräson. The location stands in for the West, from where distanced and abstract discussions about the war in the East are being held.
