The unconventional documentary “O” exposes the intriguing fascination for the Egg. 

O is set in the twentieth century, when the German ornithologist Max Schönwetter devotes himself to his life’s work: the scientific handbook of the egg. While he frantically collects and studies 19.206 eggs and corresponds with ornithologists, oologists, expedition members, museum staff, collectors, traitors and soldiers to expand his knowledge, the Second World War starts to evolve.

O is an archive film of which the texts are wholly based on the historical correspondence of Max Schönwetter. While the passages from the correspondence form a polyphonic collage of voice-overs, the documentary portrays in staged scenes the ‘kammerspiel’ of Schönwetter’s small world of collecting eggs, in contrast with the events on the world stage, which are visualized through film archive material.