The catastrophic fire destroyed almost 350 hectares of forest. In eerily beautiful images, the film uses slow tracking shots to show a burnt forest as it is rarely seen. Drone footage makes the enormous destruction and the extent of it clear from a bird’s eye view. Over five years, from the first day of the fire, the camera follows various events on the land. The central question for the future is: What should the forest of tomorrow look like here, but also elsewhere?

The Pyrophob research project is launched with the aim of developing more fire-resistant forests. Forestry workers are facing difficult challenges. Climate change and drought have long been making themselves felt in Brandenburg’s monotonous pine forests. Numerous areas contaminated with munitions are another problem. A trio of artists is developing a work of art from burnt wood that is intended to make us aware of climate change.

The owners of the burnt area, on the one hand the town of Treuenbrietzen and on the other the private forest cooperative of Bardenitz, each decide on their own way of reforestation. The film follows progress, but also setbacks, such as another fire in 2022. The wolf and other animals reclaim their former habitat over time. Will everything be okay?

Over 3,500 firefighters, police, the German Armed Forces, the THW and other agencies battled the flames for almost two weeks. Three villages were evacuated. Weeks later, numerous pockets of embers were still being extinguished. The economic damage to the town of Treuenbrietzen and the Bardenitz forest cooperative amounted to almost 10 million euros.