Manfred Körfer

„This film is beautifully made, poetic, enchanting in the true sense of the word - bewitching, to be more precise. Dispensing with the use of any dialogue and the customary action gives each viewer the opportunity to engage themselves entirely on their own terms; it was like a meditation on my own childhood for me. I could relate so well to many situations and to the imagery, it was like long forgotten childhood memories emerging in half-sleep.“

Westdeutsche Zeitung

„Mathias Allary, awarded with the ‚Most Promising Award' of North Rhine-Westphalia, showed his 45-minute film ‚A Day Like a Year' at Black Box. His film is an exploration of the world as perceived by two children to counterpoint the sensory deprivation of the adult mind. On their way to school Julia and Torsten innocently and ever thankful for a new distraction take a stroll through their inner and outer world, the director sets the stage for their unfettered perceptive abundance. Without needing a specific plot, the story is relayed in a very open, somewhat documentary-like style, leaving space for the viewers memories and associations, as well as for the free-spirited protagonists. Language is dispensable in this: images, soundscape and music suffice. The childs world doesn't necessarily require dialogue, even though the call "Hallo!" at the ending does send a signal. A subjective and an objective camera accompanies the children, assuming their point of view. Seasons change: a playful shower in autumn leaves turns into a snowballfight. Sequences from dreams are seamlessy incorporated into the childrens perception. A pocket lighter leads to a fire-eater, a puddle to beach and ocean. The fairy-tale forest mirrors the child's loneliness, fear and experience of loss. Compellingly ascetic, this film doesn't yield to any commonly understood requirements or limitations and thus conveys something irrecoverable: the paradise lost.“

Neue Rheinzeitung

„Gently and wordlessly ‚A Day Like a Year' tells a tender story of two school-children wandering off into a dreamworld.“