The Congress of Penguins

The allotment gardens on the outskirts of the city of Zurich provide hundreds of unpropertied men and women with a home which they are unable to find in the impersonal rented blocks in which they live. The gardens represent their hobby, their freedom and their living space, which exists side by side with hard work. They cannot however own these "homes" and the film shows the chronicle of the events which took place in 1976 - 77 when construction of the Zurich wholesale market hall destroyed 150 gardens and made many people "homeless". This portrait of a group is complemented by the stories of three individuals.

On the last voyage of the Italian ocean liner EUGENIO C. from Genoa to Rio de Janeiro, Zurich-based ethnologist Roger Wiedmer meets Brazilian Zaira Gelbert. He wants to repeat the journey to the Indians of the Amazon described by Claude Lévy-Strauss in "Tristes Tropiques" some forty years later and begins with the first chapter: "La fin des voyages." Zaira Gelbert returns to her roots in her homeland after a two-year stay in Europe. The love story between the two—which lasts the eleven days of the crossing—becomes a dialogue between two cultures. The encounter with Zaira opens Roger's eyes. Now he perceives the sea, the ship, and above all the passengers with their stories. He meets emigrants, poets, first-class passengers, tourists, crew members, priests. A stowaway is also traveling with them.