Ostwind 3 - Aufbruch nach Ora 
Germany
2017
Opening 27 Jul 2017
Directed by:
Katja von Garnier
Writing credits:
Lea Schmidbauer
Principal actors:
Jannis Niewöhner, Lea van Acken, Nicolette Krebitz, Tilo Prückner, Hanna Binke
Mika (Binke) takes care of horses and gives riding lessons in Kaltenbach, Germany. She is extremely dissatisfied with this life, which makes her often impertinent and discourteous. Happiness is solely in the company of her horse Ostwind (east wind), a beautiful black stallion. Therefore it is no surprise when she takes off for Spain, where she aims to locate the original home of Ostwind. He was born into a herd of wild horses, which ran freely on the plains of Andalusia in southern Spain, before being captured and sold to Germans. She lands, by chance, in a hacienda where she meets Samantha, aka Sam (van Acken) and her father Pedro (Thomas Sarbacher). He is also involved with horses. Pedro has an estranged sister Tara (Krebitz) who lives in the wild near other horses. As the story evolves, we learn that a major business intends to fence in the plains, the natural habitat of the wild horses, and destroy their source of water. In order to reverse this plan, it is necessary to have the area recognized as a cultural heritage, where nothing may be changed.
As you probably guessed, this is a story about horses, and they are indeed beautiful. This is the third in a series of stories about Mika and Ostwind, the first showed in 2013, the second in 2015, and now, exactly two years later, Ostwind 3, all by director Katja von Garnier. Many of the original actors are still present, including Hanna Binke in the main role of Mika. In my audience were many small girls, 9 to 13 (they said), who giggled throughout the film and told me afterwards that they were not disappointed. One can enjoy this film without prior knowledge, although real “fans” have seen it all, and have the notebooks and pencils and t-shirts that go with it – kind of like My Little Pony although without animation and perhaps for children a bit older. (Becky Tan)
