schleifen

to raze

Is it possible to shift a place on the map? Old villages are razed, that is, cleared away, to make room for the opencast mine Garzweiler II. They are built up again in other locations, and the inhabitants are resettled there. The new houses look nothing like the old ones, but the street names remain the same – only the word “new” is added. In slow tracking shots through the old villages and the new settlements, the film interweaves views of something that might be “Heimat.”

Source: 64. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue)