Döpfner Fenster

Where do wooden windows actually come from? The obvious answer would be: from the joinery. This film gives the nicer one.

In the style of a grand nature documentary, we travel to the most remote corners of Germany’s forests. There, shy and rare, grows the legendary Fenestram Ligni, commonly known as the window tree. For the first time, a camera follows the mysterious tradition of its care: from planting through patient tending to the highly delicate harvest. The window maker approaches his trees with the calm of a man who knows that a good window cannot be rushed.

Sadly, the tree doesn’t exist. We checked. The message behind it does, though: Döpfner’s windows grow on local trees. The jury of the Vorarlberger Kreativpreis 2023 believed in the tree anyway and awarded the film first place in the moving image category.