The European Literature Festival Köln-Kalk (ELK) enters its fourth year. In 2022, six award-winning authors brought literature in Ukrainian, Polish, Lithuanian, Greek, Kurdish, and Albanian to the stages of ELK.
This documentary captures the spirit of a festival that remains boldly utopian—advocating for a shared and open Europe, for dialogue over isolation.
With a focus on the “political poem”, the festival asked: What can poetry and prose contribute to the European utopia? Is that even their task?
Featuring voices from Vienna to Cologne, and past ELK authors from six countries, the film offers a multilingual, multi-perspective look at literature, politics, and imagination in motion.
Open air. Free admission. Many voices. One question: What is Europe?