Oeconomia

The documentary asks where money comes from. Carmen Losmann puts the question to the industry itself. She speaks with bankers, with company finance officers and with central bank people. The chief economist of the European Central Bank sits down with her too. The questions look simple. Where does profit come from, and how is money created. The answers often stop half way. The film shows that banks create money by granting credit. From there it draws a conclusion, that growth does not continue unless debt grows with it. Losmann keeps the closed doors in the film as well. The firms that would not speak become part of the account. Diagrams and animation carry the harder passages, while glass lobbies and meeting rooms set the look. The ninety minute documentary was shown at the Berlin festival, a German production Carmen Losmann finished in 2020.