Armed with photos from back then, Paul travels to visit a Senegalese friend and takes her on a trip down memory lane with animations and old videos. Paul Drey documents experiences, illusions, and traumas he encountered as a 19-year-old in the city of Thiès in Senegal. As part of his year of community service, he flew to Senegal with a German NGO in 2010, where he worked in the surgery department of a hospital. Poverty, corruption, and a difficult everyday life turned his hopes for meaningful development aid into a personal nightmare. This also included encounters with German aid workers on site.

READ EARS is a documentary self-experiment, a critical reflection on personal responsibility, failed development aid, and the continuing effects of colonial power relations. Between disappointment, guilt, and the longing for reconciliation, a picture emerges of an encounter between two worlds full of misunderstandings, closeness, and distance. The film confronts not only the real challenges of everyday hospital life, but also the contradictions of Western aid projects.

Paul Drey does not process his experiences as a heroic narrative, but as a relentless self-examination. His film raises questions about privilege, self-image, and the often overlooked influence of cultural conditioning. READ EARS is not a travelogue, but a cinematic reflection on a shattered dream—honest, personal, and uncomfortable.