Snowdrop.Snowdrop.

Snowdrop (Schneeglöckchen) is a 2014 short film written and directed by Jenny Gand. With the help of smugglers, a small group of refugees attempts to cross the border between Ukraine and Slovakia. Among them are a mother and her twelve-year-old daughter, hoping to reach the girl’s father in Austria. A lost snowglobe becomes a turning point in their journey.

The title carries a devastating meaning. Jenny Gand explains that local farmers in Ukraine and Slovakia used “snowdrops” for refugees found dead in the border region. The film gives a human face to those journeys — to the hope that drives them, the dependence on strangers and the lives that can be lost along the way.

The original score, sound design and final film mix were created by Michael Dörfler. Its musical world continued to grow beyond the fifteen-minute film: more ideas and material were already taking shape than the soundtrack could hold. That became the starting point for Ambient White.