The Sun Island is an essay film about coincidences, shattered lives and posthumous fame. A found footage family film about love and passion, friendship and heartbreak set in Frankfurt and Berlin between the wars (1927-1935), during WWII and into the present. It includes the history of the Frankfurt Großmarkhalle (Central Market)– a landmark building of the International Style – before and after its acquisition by the European Central Bank, as part of its new headquarters. But The Sun Island is also a film about the origins of the green movement: about recycling, sus­tainability, and living off the grid – before these ideas had been properly invented.

Thomas Elsaesser is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Media & Culture at the University of Amsterdam and author of several prize-winning books. From 2006 to 2012 he was Visiting Professor at Yale. Since 2013 he teaches part-time at Columbia University, New York.

He is the grandson of German architect Martin Elsaesser, a protagonist of The Sun Island. He is also the co-editor of Martin Elsaesser – Schriften (Niggli, 2014) and of Martin Elsaesser und das Neue Frankfurt (Wasmuth, 2009).

Sponsored by the UB German Graduate Studies Group and the Modernisms Research Workshop