Four days after the Japanese Film festival ended at the Goethe-Institut, Germans have started screening their own at the same venue.

On Tuesday evening, a movie titled, Sound of Heimat (2011) was shown at the Institut’s premises in Kiyovu. The movie centers on musician Hayden Chisholm, a New Zealander, who traverses German to explore the country’s folk music.

In the town of Buchenwald, he meets an elderly man who was in a concentration camp during Nazi Germany. "In the summer, we would work for 16 hours a day. Sometimes we would rest for only six hours and much of that time would be spent singing,” he told Hayden.

This explains why Hayden has wondered before – most Germans ‘are embarrassed and turn red when asked about their music’. After World War II, no one wanted to sing folk songs. "We were told ‘we have had enough singing,’ Hayden was told. That censorship has buried German music till today.

People who attended the movie had mixed reactions. Kaetjas, a Belgian national, said that the movie sent her into soul-searching about her own folk music. "I have to ask my parents and grandparents about Belgian folk songs. Don’t know anything about it myself and this movie has invoked an urge within me to find out,” she said.

Patrick Kiruhura, a filmmaker and director of Roots Foundation, says that the movie didn’t appeal to him because it was too German. "Maybe the people who chose it for viewing have better answers as to why did. "It is more about Germans and has nothing to do with me as a black African,” he told The New Times.

The next movie, Full Metal Village, will be screened next Tuesday at the same venue. Entrance is free.