Jewish aesthete Cioma, 21, does not let anyone take away his joy of life, especially not the Nazis. In 1942, he has to find new ways to make his living in Berlin and escape deportation. In the process he discovers his talent for forgery: not only with passports, but also his own identity.

Fake identities, escape, loss. People are cut out of stills to make the physical concealment and loss of identities visible. Hiding from the Nazis and deportation blur into a visual metaphor. The print texture, ink and papers echo the materialities Cioma uses to forge passports.

The use of overlays with papers, transparencies, tracing papers and collage-like elements are not only visually appealing but communicate a deeper meaning. Superimpositions as an expression of multidimensional character traits. Torn paper as a pictorial rift between existential anxiety and the pursuit of pleasure in life.

The transparency film acts as a veil that only occasionally allows visibility. Cut-out elements and figures form interactions that blur behind the film.

The typeface »Balant« is modern sans serif and counteracts the typographic cliché of Fraktur and serif fonts. The static forms help to give the title a bureaucratic character.