The old freight station in Zurich has to make way for a new police and justice center. From a window overlooking a construction site, Thomas Imbach has been watching the old freight station disappear from his studio in Zurich for seven years. In its place, a massive concrete complex is rising: the city's new police and justice center. With his camera, Imbach documents the transformation of the urban space and asks a fundamental question: What is lost when places disappear, and what emerges in their place? The old freight station in Zürich once brought prosperity to the city. Its construction unleashed a flow of goods and unveiled new access to the world. But 125 years later, this symbol of international exchange and movement is making way for control, isolation and national security. A new Prison and Police Centre is planned to rise in its place, designed to accommodate people awaiting deportation. NEMESIS is more than a long-term observation. The film weaves together observation and reflection, destruction and extinction of history, architecture and power. Parallel to the urban upheaval, we hear the voices of people in deportation detention, recorded by Imbach's team. Their statements, combined with the silent force of the images, open up a reflection on control, exclusion, and historical responsibility. It is not just about buildings, but about the symbolic erasure of history by systems of security. Fueled by Imbach’s consternation, and accompanied by both his personal chronicle along with testimonies of newly arrived immigrants, NEMESIS probes how we deal with the extinction of history.

Keywords

• justice
• politics

Actors

• Milan Peschel

Director

• Thomas Imbach