Sylt - Germany's noble northern light
Hardly any other island is more characterized by contrasts than Sylt: between luxury and nativeness, glamour + natural idyll. A picture-perfect view of a place full of magic. However, Sylt also suffers from its attractiveness: more than 750,000 visitors a year pay a visit to the island off Corona, to the benefit but also to the chagrin of the locals.
This film takes a look at the parallel world in the far north. For many tourists, the journey to Sylt alone is unusual. Most arrive with their car piggybacked on the car transporter from Niebüll by train, experience the water world of the Wadden Sea to the right + left of the Hindenburg Dam. On the island it continues with the contrasts: between luxury and nativeness, between Kampen + camping.
Sylt is an island of contrasts. Lively life in Westerland, deserted stretches of beach at Lister Ellenbogen. The short reportage gives an insight into the parallel world of a majestic + supposedly extravagant island, beyond the tourist hotspots. The film also focuses on genuine islanders, such as farmer John-Ricklef Petersen. He is one of about 14,000 people who come from here and even still speak the Sylt dialect Söl'ring. For more than 100 years, the Petersens' family has been farming on the island's meadows, now in its third generation. The 250 Galloway-Angus cattle from their own breeding are the heart of the organic farm. The family works in the fields + on the dike even when tourists are still slumbering in their hotel and cottage beds during the high season. The relationship between them and the locals is ambivalent.
The island thrives on tourism, but it puts a strain on the nature reserves and drives up property prices. Many locals have long been unable to afford their own island. Meanwhile, 20-year-old Phillip Grossmann is firmly rooted in the island. He can usually be found off Sylt's southern tip, about six kilometers from Farmer Petersen's salt marshes, on the "Simon Alexander." It is one of only five fishing vessels allowed to fish for mussels off Sylt. The yield is great, because Sylt is considered a paradise for mussels. Farmer John-Ricklef Petersen not only keeps a constant eye on his cattle, but above all on his equally large number of salt marsh sheep, 250 woolly natives of Sylt. They graze on the salt marshes on the east side of the island until November + determine the family's annual rhythm. Everything is timed almost to the day so that around 400 lambs see the light of day in time for Easter.
Broadcasting on 14th of July 2022 at 09.45pm on 3sat
Music: POPVIRUS Library
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