Am Ende kommen Touristen

Transcription

German Films
Quarterly 2 · 2007
AT CANNES
In Competition AUF DER ANDEREN SEITE by Fatih Akin
Un Certain Regard AM ENDE KOMMEN TOURISTEN by Robert Thalheim
Cinéfondation HALBE STUNDEN by Nicolas Wackerbarth
PORTRAITS
Chris Kraus, Ulrike von Ribbeck, Filmquadrat, Nina Hoss
SPECIAL REPORT
10 Years of NEXT GENERATION
German Films and Co-Productions
IN THE OFFICIAL PROGRAM
In Competition
In Competition
Auf der anderen
Seite
The Man From London
by Béla Tarr
THE EDGE OF HEAVEN
by Fatih Akin
Producer: corazón international/Hamburg
World Sales: The Match Factory/Cologne
German Co-Producers: Black Forest Films &
Von Vietinghoff Filmproduktion/Berlin
World Sales: Fortissimo Films/Amsterdam
Un Certain Regard
Cinéfondation
You the Living
Halbe Stunden
by Roy Andersson
HALF HOURS
by Nicolas Wackerbarth
German Co-Producer: Essential FilmproduktionThermidor Filmproduktion/Berlin
World Sales: Coproduction Office/Paris
Producers: Deutsche Film- & Fernsehakademie (dffb)
& Jost Hering Filme/Berlin
World Sales: Deutsche Film- & Fernsehakademie (dffb)/Berlin
OF THE
Cannes Film Festival 2007
60th Anniversary Tribute
Un Certain Regard
Ulzhan
Am Ende kommen
Touristen
by Volker Schloendorff
AND ALONG COME TOURISTS
by Robert Thalheim
German Co-Producer: Volksfilm/Potsdam
World Sales: Rezo Film International/Paris
Producer: 23|5 Filmproduktion/Berlin
World Sales: Bavaria Film International/Geiselgasteig
Directors’ Fortnight
Critics’ Week
Gegenueber
The Mosquito Problem
and Other Stories
Producer: Heimatfilm/Cologne
World Sales: Wide Management/Paris
by Andrey Paounov
German Co-Producer: Filmtank/Hamburg
World Sales: TV2 World/Copenhagen
Credits not contractual
COUNTERPARTS
by Jan Bonny
German Films Quarterly
2 · 2007
TALKIN’ ‘BOUT MY “NEXT GENERATION”
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focus on 10 Years of Next Generation
directors’ portraits
STAYING POWER
A portrait of Chris Kraus
“TEAMWORK, TRUST AND TENSION”
A portrait of Ulrike von Ribbeck
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producers’ portrait
PLATFORM FOR DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS
A portrait of Filmquadrat
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actress’ portrait
A PASSION FOR ACTING
A portrait of Nina Hoss
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news
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in production
CHIKO
Oezguer Yildirim
DR. ALEMÁN
Tom Schreiber
DIE EINSAMKEIT IST NIE ALLEIN
Roland Reber
FRUEHSTUECK MIT EINER UNBEKANNTEN
Maria von Heland
HANAMI
Doris Doerrie
IM JAHRES DES HUNDES
Ursula Scheid
IRONMAN
Adnan G. Koese
LIEBE UND ANDERE VERBRECHEN
Stefan Arsenijevic
LULU UND JIMI
Oskar Roehler
SHORT CUT TO HOLLYWOOD
Marcus Mittermeier, Jan Henrik Stahlberg
STELLUNGSWECHSEL
Maggie Peren
VIER SIND EINER ZUVIEL
Torsten C. Fischer
new german films
AM ENDE KOMMEN TOURISTEN AND ALONG COME TOURISTS
Robert Thalheim
DIE ANRUFERIN THE CALLING GAME
Felix Randau
AUF DER ANDEREN SEITE THE EDGE OF HEAVEN
Fatih Akin
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AUTOPILOTEN AUTOPILOTS
Bastian Guenther
[DESI’RE:] – THE GOLDSTEIN REELS
Romeo Gruenfelder
DOS PATRIAS CUBA Y LA NOCHE
TWO HOMELANDS CUBA AND THE NIGHT
Christian Liffers
DER GOLDENE NAZIVAMPIR VON ABSAM 2 –
DAS GEHEIMNIS VON SCHLOSS KOTTLITZ
THE GOLDEN NAZI VAMPIRE OF ABSAM PART II –
THE SECRET OF KOTTLITZ CASTLE
Lasse Nolte
HALBE STUNDEN HALF HOURS
Nicolas Wackerbarth
DAS HAUS DER SCHLAFENDEN SCHOENEN
HOUSE OF THE SLEEPING BEAUTIES
Vadim Glowna
DAS HERZ IST EIN DUNKLER WALD
THE HEART IS A DARK FOREST
Nicolette Krebitz
KLASSENFAHRT IN DAS REVIER DER WILDERER
SCHOOL TRIP INTO POACHERS’ TERRITORY
Marcus Lenz, Ingo Rudloff
LIBANON – STANDHALTEN IM WAHNSINN
LEBANON – RESISTING LUNACY
Uwe-S. Tautenhahn
LIEBESLEBEN LOVELIFE
Maria Schrader
MIKROFAN
Matthias Staehle
MONDMANN MOONMAN
Fritz Boehm
MONKS – THE TRANSATLANTIC FEEDBACK
Dietmar Post, Lucía Palacios
NEUES VOM WIXXER THE VEXXER
Cyrill Boss, Philipp Stennert
OSDORF
Maja Classen
PAUL UND BATAAR PAUL AND BATAAR
Caterina Klusemann
PRATER
Ulrike Ottinger
PREUSSISCH GANGSTAR PRUSSIAN GANGSTARS
Irma-Kinga Stelmach, Bartosz Werner
DER ROTE ELVIS THE RED ELVIS
Leopold Gruen
VOLLIDIOT COMPLETE IDIOT
Tobi Baumann
DIE WILDEN HUEHNER UND DIE LIEBE WILD CHICKS IN LOVE
Vivian Naefe
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film exporters
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foreign representatives · imprint
Exterior. Night. An incandescent moon lights the sky as throngs of
cinemagoers stream out of a packed Cannes movie theater, where
they’ve just attended a highly-anticipated world premiere. We
overhear bits of conversation. “Amazing narrative structure for a first
film!” “A brilliant documentary, never thought of stewardesses
like that.” “The claymation was fantastic.” “Who was that hunky
actor?” “The light in the lake scenes was magical.” “I never saw an
entire film shot in the subway.” “I never saw an entire film shot backwards.”
FLASHBACK
Wait, there aren’t any multiplexes in Cannes! But all these people
can’t be talking about the same film! There’s a simple explanation: The
crowd is leaving another packed showing of “Next Generation,”
a program of the year’s best shorts by students at German film
schools. On May 20th in Cannes, German Films will unveil the tenth
edition of this selection.
Many of Germany’s best-known directors – Wim Wenders, Werner
Herzog, Caroline Link and Tom Tykwer, to name only a few – all started out making shorts. And Next Generation offers status-hungry
Cannes audiences bragging rights: “I was at the world premiere of X’s
first student film.” They would see new stars being born. Not only
that the extraordinary vitality, quality and originality of the Next
Generation films and their creators are winning over new audiences
everywhere.
german films quarterly
2 · 2007
1998: German Films (or the Export-Union of German Cinema, as it
was then known) was seeking to diversify its activities, increase
awareness of its role, and find new mandates and partners. Jochem
Strate, former supervisory board chairman of German Films, whose
son was attending the Munich Academy of Television and Film, had a
brainwave. Why not involve Germany’s various film schools in a project to showcase a selection of their productions in Cannes?
focus on 10 years of next generation
6
Scene from “Fair Trade” (photo © Michael Dreher)
TALKIN’ ‘BOUT MY
“NEXT GENERATION”
Next Generation 2000
Henckel von Donnersmarck said of his experience with Next
Generation: "When Dobermann was selected by German Films to
be part of the Next Generation reel in Cannes in 2000, I was almost
as excited as I was when my nomination for the Academy Awards was
announced seven years later. Apart from a thrilling and all-expensespaid trip to Cannes, it was a great bonding experience with the other
short film makers. I am still friends with many of them. We had inScene from ”Dobermann”
That is Next Generation’s drawing card, the best shorts by the most
talented directors of the youngest generation. For instance, back in
2000 the program included the Munich Academy of Television and
Film’s Dobermann, by the tallest short film director in Next
Generation history. Seven years later director Florian Henckel von
Donnersmarck was again towering over his peers, winning the OSCAR
for Best Foreign Language Film for The Lives of Others.
2 · 2007
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Lively discussion late at night: 2005 at “Petit Majestic”
vitations to all the German events and were suddenly taken seriously
by the German industry leaders. After all, our films were being shown
at Cannes! The turnout at our screening was very impressive, and I
got to meet many of the people who would end up organizing and
financing my first feature film only four years later.”
Premiere cinema: Star 2
Next Generation is the real thing, the diamond in the raw, the newest
new German cinema and directors. To ensure a selection of the
highest quality, the films are selected by a prestigious independent jury
composed of two permanent members (Astrid Kuehl, managing
director of the Short Film Agency and co-head of the International
Short Film Festival Hamburg, and Heinz Badewitz, director of the Hof
Film Days and head of the German Cinema program at the Berlin Film
Festival), as well as a rotating third juror – this year Anke Sterneborg,
a film journalist with Munich’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Film schools are invited to submit their year’s best productions – 59
for 2007. Since the total running time is limited to about 90 minutes,
and in order to ensure the broadest possible selection, individual films
may not exceed 15 minutes.
The selection is also competitive, for the jury chooses one director
who will be sponsored at Cannes by German Films and will represent
the other directors from that year. In fact the lure of presenting one’s
film at a Cannes screening proves irresistible, so almost all the directors, as well as many producers and other members of their posse –
actors, DoPs, friends and relatives – travel down, most of them at
their own expense, by camping car, bus, train, even sleeping in tents
in nearby camping parks, if that’s all their budget will allow.
The rewards are ample. They present their films on stage to a packed
audience and deafening applause. And then are fêted like the stars
they are by an international crowd at a beach party that German Films
throws in their honor.
And their enthusiasm has been echoed by that of ever larger Cannes
audiences. Astrid Kuehl has noted a huge interest in the selection by
2 · 2007
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Christian Dorsch and the Next Generation 2005 Poster
programmers from festivals around the world. And Heinz Badewitz,
who hosts the series of German features shown in the Cannes
Market, says buyers and journalists are also eager to discover the
newest talents Germany has to offer. Regulars wouldn’t dream of
missing a year, having learned to “expect the unexpected.” The only
constants are quality and imagination.
MAKING WAVES & BREAKING GROUND
German short directors are making waves. After presenting At the
Lake in the 2002 edition of Next Generation, Ulrike von Ribbeck
(German Film and Television Academy Berlin - dffb) was invited back
to Cannes the following year to the official program as one of the
Cinéfondation short film directors. In 2004 her short Charlotte screened at both the Perspectives German Cinema section in Berlin and the
Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes.
Scene from “Rocks”
Other success stories abound: Ulrike Grote (Hamburg Media School,
NG 2004) garnered a Student OSCAR in 2005 and an OSCAR nomination in 2006 for her follow-up film The Runaway. In 2003 Florian
Baxmeyer (a fellow Hamburg Media School graduate, NG 2002)
earned a Student OSCAR and an OSCAR nomination for The Red Jacket
in 2004. Shown in Next Generation in 2002, Rocks, directed by
Chris Stenner, Arvid Uibel and Heidi Wittlinger (Film Academy
Baden-Wuerttemberg ) went on to receive an OSCAR nomination the
following year.
tives, many of whom will have attended the screening in Cannes, and
discuss future projects.”
Anke Zindler, of Munich’s Just Publicity PR company, agrees: “In
Cannes students have their first ’real life’ opportunity – at one of the
most exciting international platforms – to learn how to present and
market their films, to deal with the public and press – vital for reaching
and winning over audiences at home and especially abroad.”
German film schools get high marks from the industry, too. Heinz
Badewitz says the films are getting better and better, and points to the
Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg in Ludwigsburg, the first in
Germany to offer studies in computer animation, which has provided
director Roland Emmerich with many of his best collaborators in
Hollywood. And at film schools, free from market pressures, directors may enjoy far greater freedom to express their vision than they
will when they turn pro. Next Generation also serves as a promo reel
for the schools and for the quality of their programs, as attested by
the annual crop of international honors their students’ harvest.
In looking back over the ten years of Next Generation, Christian
Dorsch, managing director of German Films, stresses the benefits for
all concerned: “With Next Generation we are investing in the future.
And the program allows us to establish contacts with filmmakers we’ll
soon be working with. The students get an immersion into the reality
of the movie business. We provide the students with festival
accreditation, which allows them to participate fully in the festival.
They can see the latest and best films from around the world. Plus, it
is easy for them to meet producers and funding board representagerman films quarterly
2 · 2007
Jochem Strate says there are two mythical cities all filmmakers dream
about: L.A. and Cannes. And since German Films has always offered
film professionals its expertise and a highly developed support system
in Cannes, it was a natural choice as a launch-pad for Next
Generation. The German Films staff at the German pavilion provides
advice and organizational resources. In the experience of Mariette
Rissenbeek, publicity manager for German Films, the more the
students invest in taking advantage of their stay, the more they get out
of it.
According to Heinz Badewitz, the charms of the seaside resort, the
sun, food, and beautiful setting are more than just perks – they encourage filmmakers to persevere. Their films are shown alongside
those of the greatest directors, and the electric atmosphere is conducive to discussion, to chance encounters and meetings of minds.
Almost everyone who is anyone in German film converges on
Cannes, and they’re far more available there than back home. Martin
Scheuring, who coordinates Next Generation at German Films, often
hears how the screenings pay off for the students, since it helps them
to be taken seriously by established directors and producers. And it
works both ways: the impressive array of shorts creates interest in
German feature films, too.
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mer PR manager at German Films who originally initiated the meetings between the Next Generation participants and the developers of
film policy. “They have the most vivid dreams and the most critical,
not to say radical views of the film industry. The 2002 meeting was
the first time students had a chance to speak directly with a minister,
to express what they cared about, what they need, the steps they’d
Next Generation in Cannes has also been the forum for ground-breaking discussions between the filmmakers and two federal ministers. In
2002 they met with Julian Nida-Ruemelin, then State Minister for
Culture and the Media, and in 2003 with his successor, Dr. Christina
Weiss. “Film students are driven by passion, ambition and vision – and
often too by difficult economic realities,” says Susanne Reinker, for-
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like to see implemented. And the ministers obviously recognized in
the students essential partners in developing a national film policy.”
After its initial outing in 1998 and the enthusiastic reception, it was
clear that, for Next Generation, “Einmal ist keinmal.” (Once is never
enough.) Cannes is only the kick-off for the program, which, since
year two has been shown for the rest of the year at numerous festivals and German film weeks around the world, including Moscow,
New York, Mexico, Buenos Aires, Paris, and London – to name but
a few – often accompanied by a different director chosen to represent her or his colleagues. For German Films, Next Generation
is a year-long commitment: the 2006 selection last screened in March
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Jan Koester, Till Nowak, Bernd Neumann
this year at Wiesbaden, a little over a month before the 2007 program
unspooled.
Laurence Kardish, senior curator at the New York Museum of
Modern Art’s film department, says, “Next Generation screens as
part of ‘Kino’, our annual program of new German films. The series
is very popular, and I’m both pleased and surprised that there is such
great attendance for shorts by filmmakers who are not yet wellknown but will, we hope, achieve some celebrity in the near future.
While the student filmmakers often attend screenings of other
German films that haven’t yet opened, I don’t really see them very
much. They take advantage of their stay in one of the world’s great
film cities to watch hard-to-see films – they’re busy educating themselves.”
INCREASING VISIBILITY & CREDIBILITY
Interestingly, the fact of being present in Cannes insures the students
greater visibility back home. German audiences and media are eager
to discover the new films and faces shown in Cannes. And since
German festivals already dedicate a large part of their programming
to local productions, shorts by unknowns run the risk of going unnoticed. Also, France is the cradle of a thriving short film culture, and its
audiences are avid fans of German films.
und the world to attend Cannes and show their films. The director of
Cinéfondation, Georges Goldenstern, explains: “The festival wanted to
create a specific forum for film students. It was important that they
have a unique role, to help them stand out, and to allow the film professionals in Cannes, distributors, buyers, producers and journalists,
to spot the work of filmmakers with a future. What’s more, the prestige of Cannes gives credibility to the directors in their home countries.”
Shorts are definitely enjoying a renaissance, for the Cannes Film
Market too has come on board. In 2004 it created the Short Film
Corner, a center to support producers, distributors and festival organizers, which screens, in addition to a multitude of other German and
international shorts, the Next Generation films too. The German
Short Film Association also hosts a Short Film Lounge every year in
Cannes.
Let’s leave the last word to Germany’s newest star, Florian Henckel
von Donnersmarck: “Next Generation was a major stepping stone
for me, and I hope it will be for many more filmmakers in the future."
Robert Gray, Kinograph / Words for Moving Images
Many festivals are recognizing the need to support young film students. It’s surely no coincidence that in 1998, the year that German
Films launched Next Generation, the Cannes film festival inaugurated
a new section, Cinéfondation, which allows 20 film students from aro-
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WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
A selection of some of the current projects of former Next Generation participants
Oliver Dommenget (Train Roulette, NG 1999, University of Hamburg): 2001 children’s film Help, I’m a Boy! (Berlin festival)
Scene from “Listen”
Branwen Okpako (LoveLoveLiebe, NG 1999, German Film & Television Academy, Berlin): 2000 documentary Dirt for Dinner (prizes
at Leipzig, Saarbruecken, Ouagadougou, etc.), 2003 Valley of the Innocent (Toronto and Berlin festivals), currently in post-production on the
documentary The Pilot and the Passenger
Zueli Aladag (Listen, NG 2000, Academy of Media
Arts Cologne): feature Elefantenherz (2002), television films
include the highly acclaimed Wut (2006)
Christian Ditter (Enchanted, NG 2000, Munich
Academy of Television and Film): 2006 feature French for
Beginners (produced by Christoph Menardi, who also produced the NG 2002 entry, Early Bird)
Holger Ernst (Little Fish, NG 2001, Academy of Art
Kassel): 2004 short Rain is Falling in competition in Venice,
numerous prizes and festival invitations; and 2006 feature
The House Is Burning as a Special Screening in Cannes
Carsten Strauch (The Pocket Organ, NG 2001,
Academy of Art and Design Offenbach): 2007 theatrical
feature Die Aufschneider
Franziska Stuenkel (Make a Wish, NG 2001,
University of Applied Sciences & Arts): 2006 theatrical feature Vineta
Ulrike von Ribbeck (At the Lake, NG 2002, German Film & Television Academy, Berlin): 2003 with the same film at Cinéfondation in
Cannes, 2004 with Charlotte in Berlin and Cannes (Directors’ Fortnight), 2007 feature Frueher oder spaeter
Ulrike Grote (One Way Ticket, NG 2004, Hamburg
Media School): 2005 Student OSCAR and 2006 OSCAR nomination for The Runaway
Ann-Kristin Wecker Reyels (Dim, NG 2005,
“Konrad Wolf ” Academy of Film and Television Potsdam):
2007 theatrical feature Hounds (Berlinale Forum, FIPRESCI
Award)
Sonja Heiss (Christina Without, NG 2005, Munich
Academy of Television and Film): 2007 with Hotel Very
Welcome, (which also stars former NG colleague Carsten
Strauch and received a Special Mention at the Berlin festival)
Scene from “Christina Without”
Florian Baxmeyer (Benny X, NG 2002, Hamburg Media School): 2003 Student OSCAR and 2004 OSCAR nomination for The Red Jacket,
2004 two-part TV mini-series Das Blut der Templer, 2007 theatrical feature Die drei Fragezeichen
Marc Brummund (Home, NG 2006, Hamburg Media
School): 2007 short Land gewinnen, Special Mention at the
Berlin festival
2 · 2007
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MEMORIES
Scene from “Window with a View”
Vera Lalyko (Window with a View, NG 2002)
At the last minute, my school, the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, offered to
pay my way to Cannes. I got a cheap flight to Marseille and from there traveled by
train to Cannes. I spent the first few nights in a neighboring town. The Next
Generation directors were supposed to meet on Saturday, but I didn’t have my
festival accreditation so I couldn’t get to the German pavilion. It was raining and
quite cool, so I couldn’t pass the time by strolling along the Croisette. The only
thing I could think of was to go to a normal movie theater that wasn’t part of the
festival, where I watched Star Wars II with a group of kids (a matinee screening!).
Despite my faulty French, it was a lot of fun: “Que la force soit avec vous!”
Afterwards the Next Generation group met to prepare for our meeting with
Minister Julian Nida-Ruemelin in a hotel lobby, where I met my fellow filmmakers.
We met with the minister the next day and I remember that Professor Nida-Ruemelin explained to us changes to the federal film funding laws.
We talked to him about our situation as young filmmakers. After the official discussions I had a chance to talk with him about short films and
animation films. He was open to the idea of introducing a separate category for Best Animation Short at the German Film Awards.
Then it was time to present our films. At the party afterwards I had many interesting conversations with other student directors and producers. I met Nana Rebhan, who was studying film production in Berlin, which led to our working together. She helped me to produce my next
animation film, Promenade.
German Films had given us DVDs with all the shorts. On our way home from the party, walking along the beach, who should I see coming
toward us but Jim Jarmusch, whose films I really like. I spontaneously gave him our DVD. Who knows, perhaps he even watched it.
I have such fond memories of our participation in Cannes. For us animation filmmakers, the glitter of Cannes and pressures of the film world
will always seem like a mysterious world.
Scene from “Wedding Day”
Tanja Brzakovic (Wedding Day, NG 2002)
Next Generation and especially our stay in Cannes was really amazing – it was one
of the greatest experiences of my professional life. Hopefully there will be more
of them in the future!
Scene from “Knight Games”
Seven of us (from two shorts in the program) drove down to Cannes. I was that
year’s guest director, so German Films put me up in an apartment. But several
other students had no place to stay, so they moved in with me. It was a lot of fun.
(I hope I won’t get into trouble now – no harm was done!) It was a tremendous
experience, we saw a lot, did a lot, and met a lot of interesting people.
Marco Gilles (producer, Knight Games, NG 2003)
For me personally it was a great experience, being supported by German Films,
attending for the first time the prestigious Cannes festival, and being invited to all
kinds of events and meetings. The international recognition that our short film
gained because of Next Generation was a great help in being invited to other festivals. Even now, many years later, I’m still in close touch with several of the filmmakers who were also in my year. Today, Daniel Mann (who co-produced
Knight Games with me) and I have our own production company, where
we’re developing feature films and television projects.
NEXT GENERATION, TAKE TWO!
Five directors and one producer have been invited twice to Next Generation: Vera Lalyko, Susanne Buddenberg, Felix Goennert, Romeo
Gruenfelder, Chris Stenner, Arvid Uibel and Raoul Reinert. And Astrid Rieger, whose Apple on a Tree is screening in Next Generation
2007, starred in last year’s Promenade d’après-midi.
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N E X T G E N E R AT I O N 1 9 9 8 – 2 0 0 7
EIN EINFACHER AUFTRAG (AN ORDINARY MISSION)
by Raymond Boy, 11 min, KHM Koeln
FAKE! by Sebastian Peterson, 12 min, HFF Potsdam
FISCHFLECKEN (FISH STAINS) by Michael Salzbrenner, 6 min,
Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg
FIVEFORTYFIVE by Christoph Roehl, 10 min, dffb
FRUEHLING (SPRING) by Silke Parzich, 4.5 min, Filmakademie
Baden-Wuerttemberg
DAS GELBE TRIKOT (THE YELLOW JERSEY) by Samira Radsi,
7 min, Hamburger Filmwerkstatt
LATE AT NIGHT by Stefanie Jordan, Stefanie Saghri, Claudia
Zoller, 4 min, HFF Potsdam
NIGHTHAWKS by Dmitri Popov, 15 min, HFF Muenchen
EIN PERFEKTER MORD (A PERFECT MURDER)
by Frank-Peter Lenze, 6 min, Hamburger Filmwerkstatt
DER SIEG (STEP TOWARDS VICTORY) by Robert Krause,
8 min, HFF Muenchen
BASTA PASTA by Nicolás Hammerschlag, 6 min, dffb
LES DEUX CLEFS (THE TWO KEYS) by Sabine Burg, 10 min,
KHM Koeln
EMMIS GEBURTSTAG (EMMI’S BIRTHDAY) by Tonguc
Baykurt, 7.5 min, Hamburger Filmwerkstatt
FLYING PAUL by Svend Stein-Angel, 1.5 min, HFF Muenchen
THE GONER by Peter Kaboth, 4 min, HFF Potsdam
HANDLE WITH CARE by Susanne Buddenberg, Lorenz Trees,
3 min, HFF Potsdam
LOVELOVELIEBE by Branwen Okpako, 10 min, dffb
MASKS by Piotr Karwas, 5 min, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg
PLATONISCHE LIEBE (PLATONIC LOVE) by Philip
Kadelbach, 10 min, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg
ROAD TO PALERMO by Marcel-Kyrill Gardelli, 8 min, HFF
Muenchen
SIND SIE LUIGI? (ARE YOU LUIGI?) by Stephan Brueggenthies,
7 min, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg
DIE SUPERSCHURKEN (SUPER JERKS) by Vera Lalyko, 4 min,
KHM Koeln
ZUGROULETT (TRAIN ROULETTE) by Oliver Dommenget,
BIN WEG – LISA (I HAVE GONE – LISA) by Matthias
Kutschmann, 8 min, HFF Muenchen
BSSS by Felix Goennert, 2 min, HFF Potsdam
DOBERMANN by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 4 min,
HFF Muenchen
HARARA by Andy Kaiser, 9.5 min, Filmakademie BadenWuerttemberg
HARTES BROT (STICKY DOUGH) by Nathalie Percillier,
7.5 min, dffb
HOER DEIN LEBEN (LISTEN) by Zueli Aladag, 7 min,
KHM Koeln
2 · 2007
LETTERS by Matthias Wittmann, 9 min, Filmakademie BadenWuerttemberg
MANN IM MOND (MAN IN THE MOON) by Chris Stenner,
Arvid Uibel, 7 min, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg
TROMPE L’ŒIL by Ingo Panke, 4.5 min, HFF Potsdam
VERZAUBERT (ENCHANTED) by Christian Ditter, 9 min,
HFF Muenchen
Special Presentation:
Student OSCAR 1999 / OSCAR-nomination 2000
KLEINGELD (SMALL CHANGE) by Marc-Andreas Bochert,
15 min, HFF Potsdam
DANS L’ATELIER DU SCULPTEUR by Richard Badé, 2
min, KHM Koeln
ENDSTATION: PARADIES (TERMINAL: PARADISE)
by Jan Thuering, 7 min, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg
FUER DICH MEIN HERZ (FOR YOU MY SWEETHEART)
by Johannes von Gwinner, 10 min, HFF Potsdam
KLEINE FISCHE (LITTLE FISH) by Holger Ernst, 9 min,
Kunsthochschule Kassel
MARIE MUSS RENNEN (MARY MUST RUN) by Konrad
Sattler, 5 min, HFF Muenchen
OBERSTUBE (THE UPPER STOREY) by Sebastian Winkels,
6 min, HFF Potsdam
OHNE TITEL (WITHOUT TITLE) by Romeo Gruenfelder,
10 min, HfbK Hamburg
DER PILOT (THE PILOT) by Oliver Seiter, 6 min, Filmakademie
Baden-Wuerttemberg
QUAK by Wolfgang Dinslage, 7 min, Hamburger Filmwerkstatt
DAS TASCHENORGAN (THE POCKET ORGAN)
by Carsten Strauch, 10 min, Hochschule fuer Gestaltung Offenbach
WUENSCH DIR WAS (MAKE A WISH) by Franziska Stuenkel,
7 min, Fachhochschule Hannover
Special Presentation: OSCAR-winner 2001
QUIERO SER by Florian Gallenberger, 34 min, HFF Muenchen
AM SEE (AT THE LAKE) by Ulrike von Ribbeck, 10 min, dffb
BENNY X by Florian Baxmeyer, 9 min, Hamburger Filmwerkstatt
FENSTER MIT AUSSICHT (WINDOW WITH A VIEW)
by Vera Lalyko, 9 min, KHM Koeln
HOCHZEITSTAG (WEDDING DAY) by Tanja Brzakovic,
MORGENSTUND (EARLY BIRD) by David Emmenlauer,
10 min, HFF Muenchen
DAS RAD (ROCKS) by Chris Stenner, Arvid Uibel, Heidi
Wittlinger, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg
RED GOURMET PELLZIK by Andreas Samland, 10 min, dffb
UNDERCOVER by Susanne Buddenberg, 6 min, HFF Potsdam
Special Presentation: OSCAR-nomination 2002
GREGORS GROESSTE ERFINDUNG (GREGOR’S
GREATEST INVENTION) by Johannes Kiefer, 11 min
15
THE DAY WINSTON NGAKAMBE CAME TO KIEL
by Jasper Ahrens, 9 min, HFF Potsdam
FETISCH (FETISH) by Richard Lehun, 7 min, dffb
GACK GACK (CLUCK CLUCK) by Olaf Encke, 6 min, HFF
Potsdam
GUERRA ALLE PIETRE (WAR ON STONES) by Andreas
Teuchert, 11 min, dffb
HOCHBETRIEB (NUTS AND BOLTS) by Andreas Krein,
KUNSTGRIFF (TRICKY FINGERS) by André F. Nebe, 6 min,
Hamburger Filmwerkstatt
LETZTE BAHN (LAST TRAIN) by Tom Uhlenbruck, 10 min,
KHM Koeln
RITTERSCHLAG (KNIGHT GAMES) by Sven Martin, 6 min,
Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg
SOFA by Hyekung Jung, 3 min, Kunsthochschule Kassel
SPRING by Oliver Held, 7 min, KHM Koeln
AUF DEM FELD (IN THE FIELD) by Philipp Wolf, 9.5 min, dffb
BAZAR by Markus Sehr, Mathias Kraemer, 3 min, ifs koeln
DELIVERY by Till Nowak, 9 min, Fachhochschule Mainz
DER GEIST VON ST. PAULI (ST. PAULI FOREVER) by
Michael Sommer, 7.5 min, Hamburg Media School
HEIM (HOME) by Marc Brummund, 6 min, Hamburg Media School
ICH RETTE DAS MULTIVERSUM (I’LL SAVE THE
MULTIVERSE) by Ulf Groote, 11 min, HfbK Hamburg
KALTE HAUT (COLD SKIN) by Sebastian Kutzli, 15 min, HFF
Muenchen
MY DATE FROM HELL by Tim Weimann, Tom Bracht,
OUR MAN IN NIRVANA by Jan Koester, 11 min, HFF
Potsdam
PROMENADE D’APRÈS MIDI by Claire Walka, 2.5 min,
Hochschule fuer Gestaltung Offenbach
Special Presentation: OSCAR-nomination 2003
DAS RAD (ROCKS) by Chris Stenner, Arvid Uibel, Heidi
Wittlinger, 8 min, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg
ANNAOTTOANNA by Clemens Pichler, 9.5 min, HFF
Muenchen
ANNIE & BOO by Johannes Weiland, 15 min, Filmakademie
Baden-Wuerttemberg
BUSINESS AS USUAL by Tom Zenker, 5 min, dffb
HIMMELFAHRT (ONE WAY TICKET) by Ulrike Grote,
HIMMELFILM by Jiska Rickels, Sanne Kurz, 15 min, HFF
Muenchen
ICH UND DAS UNIVERSUM (ME, MYSELF AND THE
UNIVERSE) by Hajo Schomerus, 14 min, Fachhochschule Dortmund
JUERGEN IN SEINEM PASSAT (DRIVING VOLKSWAGEN)
by Sebastian Poerschke, 7 min, KHM Koeln
LUCIA by Felix Goennert, 9 min, HFF Potsdam
NEON EYES by Thomas Gerhold, Markus Wambsganss, 8 min,
Bauhaus Universitaet Weimar
ANALOG BROTHER by Falk Peplinski, 7.5 min, Filmakademie
Baden-Wuerttemberg
APPLE ON A TREE by Astrid Rieger, Zeljko Vidovic, 5 min,
Hochschule fuer Gestaltung Offenbach
DOPPELZIMMER (DOUBLE ROOM) by Erim Giresunlu,
13.5 min, KHM Koeln
FAIR TRADE by Michael Dreher, 15 min, HFF Muenchen
DIE GUTE LAGE (IN A GOOD POSITION) by Nancy Brandt,
13.5 min, HFF Muenchen
INFINITE JUSTICE by Karl Tebbe, 2 min, FH Dortmund
L.H.O. by Jan Zabeil, Kristof Kannegiesser, 3 min, HFF Potsdam
OUTSOURCING by Markus Dietrich, 6 min, Bauhaus
Universitaet Weimar
SPROESSLING by Anne Breymann, 8.5 min, Kunsthochschule
Kassel
TRUCK STOP GRILL by Daniel Seideneder, 5.5 min, FH Mainz
VIDEO 3000 by Joerg Edelmann, Joern Grosshans, Jochen
Haussecker, Marc Schleiss, 5 min, Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart
WHIRR by Timo Katz, 2.5 min, FH Bielefeld
WUNDERLICH PRIVAT by Aline Chukwuedo, 9 min, dffb
DIE AMERIKANISCHE BOTSCHAFT (THE AMERICAN
EMBASSY) by David Sieveking, 10 min, dffb
CHRISTINA OHNE KAUFMANN (CHRISTINA WITHOUT) by Sonja Heiss, 15 min, HFF Muenchen
DIM by Ann-Kristin Wecker (Reyels), 15 min, HFF Potsdam
ENDSPIEL (THE FINAL) by Mara Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 12 min, HFF
Muenchen
I TOOK THE RED PILL by Ramesh Pallikara, 4 min,
Hochschule Anhalt/Dessau
JAM SESSION by Izabela Plucinska, 9.5 min, HFF Potsdam
KERNSEIF (CURD SOAP) by Alexander Kiesl, Sebastian Stolle,
3.5 min, Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg
DAS KIND (THE CHILD) by Steffen Blechschmidt, 7.5 min,
Hochschule Anhalt/Dessau
LÂL by Dirk Schaefer, 16 min, KHM Koeln
RALLYE by Romeo Gruenfelder, 2.5 min, HfbK Hamburg
DER TOURIST (THE TOURIST) by Lancelot von Naso, 7 min,
HFF Muenchen
2 · 2007
16
NEXT GENERATION 2007
A Selection of Short Films by Students of German Film Schools
We thank for their support
D I R E C TO R ’ S P O RT R A I T
Chris Kraus (photo © Jim Rakete)
Chris Kraus was born in Goettingen in 1963 and,
after stints as a journalist and illustrator, studied at the
German Film & Television Academy (dffb) in Berlin from
1991 to 1997. For ten years, Chris has enjoyed an outstanding reputation as one of Germany’s most acclaimed screenwriters, being nominated twice for the German
Screenplay Award – in 1997 for Poll and in 1999 for The
Einstein of Sex (Der Einstein des Sex) – as well as penning
the screenplays for Detlev Buck’s A Bundle of Joy
(Liebesluder, 1999) and Pepe Danquart’s C(r)ook (Basta –
Rotwein oder tot sein, 2003), among others. He also
works as a novelist and teaches Dramaturgy at the dffb
and the “Konrad Wolf ” Academy of Film and Television
in Potsdam. In 2002, his debut feature Shattered
Glass (Scherbentanz) was premiered at the Munich
Film Festival where it won the Young German Cinema
Award in the Best Screenplay category and picked up the
prize for Best Newcomer Director at the Bavarian Film
Awards the following year. His second feature as director,
Four Minutes (Vier Minuten), had its world premiere at the 2006 Shanghai International Film Festival
where it won the Golden Cup for Best Feature Film and
followed this by garnering prizes at festivals in Reyjkjavik,
San Francisco, Hof, Braunschweig and Sofia, among
others. (Prior to production, it had been presented with
the Baden-Wuerttemberg Screenplay Award). In January
2007, the film received four Bavarian Film Awards for
Best Screenplay, Best Female Lead (Monica Bleibtreu),
and Best New Talent (Hannah Herzsprung) as well as
the VGF Young Producers Award. It was also nominated
in eight categories for the 2007 German Film Awards. His
other credits include: Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass
(dir: Klaus Kraemer, 1999, dramaturgy), Die Blechtrommel 2 (2000, screenplay), Home Sweet Home (dir:
Filippos Tsitos, 2001, co-screenplay), Acapulco (2004,
screenplay), and, currently in development, Poll (2008).
Contact:
Above the Line Berlin GmbH · Uschi Keil
Wielandstrasse 5 · 10625 Berlin/Germany
phone +49-30-2 88 77 30 · fax +49-30-2 88 77 310
email: office@abovetheline.de · www.abovetheline.de
STAYING POWER
A portrait of Chris Kraus
If there is one thing writer-director Chris Kraus definitely has, it is
staying power to see an idea through to its realization.
His second feature is a case in point. It may have the short and sweet
title of Four Minutes, but the German Film & Television Academy
(dffb) graduate spent more than eight years developing the project
before it first saw the light of a projector on its world premiere at the
2 · 2007
Shanghai International Film Festival last year.
“I got the idea for the film from an item in a newspaper, but I also
wanted to make a very personal film,” he recalls. ”I was attracted by
the biography of an old lady who had taught for 60 years in a Berlin
prison. This story then led me to look for an adversary, someone who
would be quite the opposite of the old woman.”
director’s portrait
18
In spite of the ups and downs during the eight-year odyssey to get the
film made, Kraus was adamant that Four Minutes would be his
next project as a director after his impressive debut with Shattered
Glass in 2002. “I like films which ask the question to what extent art
has anything to do with real life and how far artistic expression can
actually intrude on reality. That’s what I like about cinema because
there have been films which have really touched me and changed my
life. I was particularly interested in this potential of the story and that
was the reason why I held out for so many years to see the film
made.”
During the 2005 Berlinale, Kraus began discussing the project with
producer sisters Meike and Alexandra Kordes of the recently
established production company Kordes & Kordes Film and at last
found kindred spirits who shared his vision. “Suddenly, it was like
rock’n’roll,” he observes. “We didn’t have any money, but just a great
passion. I knew from Meike [who had served as line producer on
Shattered Glass] that she only does things she really likes and
would go through concrete to achieve it. I like people who aren’t put
off by the concrete!”
It hadn’t been plain sailing either for his first feature Shattered
Glass which had existed in screenplay form for several years before
going into production. “It just takes a while until you can push through
such individual projects,” Kraus argues, although his perseverance was
then rewarded when the completed film was praised at the 2002
Munich Film Festival as one of the buzz titles and Kraus held up as a
major new talent.
The film went on to win two Bavarian Film Awards, the German
Screenplay Award, the German Film Award for Best Cinematography
for DoP Judith Kaufmann, the New Talent Award for Best Directorial
Achievement, and the Golden Camera for lead actor Juergen Vogel.
While Kraus showed himself adept at working with such seasoned
players as Vogel, Margit Carstensen, Peter Davor and Nadja Uhl in
Shattered Glass – Uhl recalled last year that he “was always prepared to be open to our suggestions and made for a very creative
atmosphere which has stayed with me in my memory” – Four
Minutes posed new challenges, but also further proof of the director’s collaborative relationship with his actors.
Casting the two leads – veteran Monica Bleibtreu for the elderly
pianist Traude Krueger and the newcomer Hannah Herzsprung as the
convicted killer Jenny – was of crucial importance. “I could see that it
wouldn’t be possible to have an 80-year-old on such a project working for 16 hours a day,” Kraus notes. “So when I met Monica
Bleibtreu, I thought she could do it but there’d be the problem of age,
as she is only 60. There was the question of whether the make-up
would function and, above all, whether there would be any chemistry
between the older woman and the younger one.”
As Kraus recalls, he had to go in two different directions with his two
lead actresses: “In actual fact, Monica is a very extroverted person
and we had to tie her down [for the role], while Hannah is very
reserved and modest in real life. But this contrast worked thanks to
their talent and the desire to follow this extreme line of preparation.
Hannah, of course, had much more to do in this respect before
the shooting because she had six months of piano lessons and boxing
training.”
International Film Festival in June of 2006 – although German film
festivals had also been clamoring to show the film. Four Minutes
then had its German premiere at the 40th Hof Film Days last October
where it was one of the program highlights with a packed-out
Saturday evening slot and Hannah Herzsprung was feted as a “name
to watch”.
As Chris Kraus points out, there has been great interest around the
globe in this film which has now been sold to 40 territories: “In
Eastern Asia, Four Minutes is mostly being launched [in the
cinemas] on a larger scale than in Germany. In these countries, in
particular China and Japan, it is, above all, the disciplining by the older
teacher that is at the fore,” he explains. “Most of the Japanese
journalists ask about details of the character of Traude Krueger and
see her as the main figure. In the Western countries, particularly the
USA, the focus is on the young Jenny. That is quite a surprisingly
different reception. But the high emotional effect of the drama goes
straight through all cultural milieus and it is understood everywhere as
a signal for the freedom of the individual.”
Back home in Germany, the film began picking up prizes even before
its theatrical release at the end of January with four Bavarian Film
Awards for Best Screenplay, Best Female Lead (Monica Bleibtreu), and
Best New Talent (Hannah Herzsprung) as well as the VGF Young
Producers Award for Kordes & Kordes Film. Kraus describes himself
as being “overjoyed” at the film’s success on its home turf: distributor
Movienet reached 250,000 admissions with just 70 prints by mid-April
to make it the most successful German arthouse film so far this year.
“The distributor reckons that we will reach between 300,000 and
400,000 spectators in the end, a sensation for this little film,” Kraus
says. “As far as the recognition with the many prizes is concerned, you
only have this luck once in your life. We are all pleased that we can
use this attention to continue working.”
Having also bagged eight nominations for the German Film Awards,
Kraus is now looking at working together again with Meike and
Alexandra Kordes on future projects for the cinema.
He has already prepared one project entitled Acapulco, a black comedy and satire, which is intended to be made with the Kordes
sisters. This might seem to be a shift in genre for Kraus, but as he
explains: “that’s where I came from – writing for comedy – starting an
age ago with the Motzki series for television and later writing screenplays for Pepe Danquart [C(r)ook] and Detlev Buck [A Bundle of Joy].”
Another long-gestating and much cherished project of Kraus’ is the
historical romantic drama Poll whose screenplay was nominated for
the German Screenplay Award back in 1997. Set in the Baltic German
community of Latvia shortly before the outbreak of the First World
War, Poll also has a young girl in the foreground in the same way as
Four Minutes: “It is a love story between a 13-year-old and a
revolutionary she hides on a country estate,” Kraus says. “This project is a very personal one for me because my family originates from
Riga, my grandmother was Latvian, and so there’s a particular affinity.”
Chris Kraus spoke with Martin Blaney
He says that it was “a conscious decision” to have the world premiere
of Four Minutes outside of Germany – at the Shanghai
2 · 2007
19
D I R E C TO R ’ S P O RT R A I T
Ulrike von Ribbeck was born in Minden/Westfalia
in 1975. Bitten by the film bug at an early age (living
in the same street as the cinema playing a large part in
this), she spent many hours a week sitting alone in the
dark! After graduating school she majored in Visual
Communication at Hamburg’s Hochschule fuer bildende
Kunst, made videos, realized she was permanently in
love with film, applied for and was accepted by the
German Film & Television Academy Berlin (dffb), where
she studied from 1999. Her short films Laurentia
(1999), Kleine Traeume (2000), Little Star
(2001), Am See (2001) and Charlotte (2004) have
played at more festivals and won more awards than
there is space to list! Suffice it to say that Am See
screened in the Cinéfondation section at Cannes 2003
and Charlotte in the Berlinale’s Perspectives German
Cinema and Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in 2004. Her first
feature, the family drama Frueher oder Spaeter
which she developed during her attendance of the
“Atelier de la Cinéfondation” in Cannes 2005, was produced by Polyphon in co-production with ZDF/Das kleine Fernsehspiel and ARTE. Today, Ulrike von Ribbeck
lives and works in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin.
Ulrike von Ribbeck (photo © Fergus Padel)
Contact:
Ulrike von Ribbeck
Grimmstrasse 30 · 10967 Berlin/Germany
phone +49-30-61 62 36 42 · email: ulrikeri@gmx.net
“TEAMWORK, TRUST
AND TENSION”
A portrait of Ulrike von Ribbeck
Walking into one of these interview situations is very much like Forest
Gump and his box of chocolates: you never know what you’re gonna
get! Especially when it’s a noisy, smokey, overcrowded café and you’ve
kept the interviewee waiting long enough to finish at least half of her
tuna fish sandwich!
2 · 2007
Once the initial power struggle had been waged and won, Ulrike
von Ribbeck, despite her claims she has never been interviewed
before and instead of rightfully mauling me to death in a public place,
proved a confident and self-assured conversation partner.
20
Watch her shorts and you’ll know she tells the truth when she affirms,
“I love emotional cinema.” But the kicker is that she loves emotional
cinema that derives its power from the script and cast, not directoral
theatricality. “I thought Woody Allen’s Match Point was fantastic,” she
continues. “Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm, The Graduate, Lost in Translation,
too. I like tense, emotional stories that show the characters’ inner
conflicts. They’re plot-orientated, certainly, but the main driver is the
emotional. Personal feelings are most important,” she continues, “I
build on my own experience and build that into the story.”
And then, just when you think we are about to take the Arthouse
Autobahn, she mentions ET as one of her favorites and then cites Star
Wars and suddenly we’re cruising the Hollywood Highway!
“Feelings and moments become part of the fantasy and story-telling.
I’ve read and studied the classic three-act-structure, the story of the
hero – it functions just like the Star Wars principle – and I stay with the
classical narrative methods but I love it when genres get mixed. You
can have crossover with realism, sure.”
And given that the mainstream is also a broad stream, von Ribbeck
also “loves thrillers because they leave so many possibilities open,
such as The Cut from Jane Campion. Match Point is also a thriller but
it tells so much about human relationships.”
So what kind of director is she? She tries “to get the actors to bring
in as much as possible about their own lives. I work long and closely
with them, building up a basis of trust to create an ensemble film. We
talk a lot about role and character. We talk our way into the characters and create them between us.”
producer Steffi Ackermann, Michael Weber and Tobias Pausinger of
The Match Factory, and very much Georges Goldenstern and
Catherine Jacques at the “Atelier de la Cinéfondation” for their support.
Von Ribbeck is now working on the treatment for a thriller about a
young manager who is mobbed and tries to discover who is behind it.
“He’s lost his job, his life and woman,” she says. “It’s about control.
How strong must an individual be? Personally and socially? We live in
a performance-orientated society and I’m interested in what happens
when this society, or the family in Frueher oder Spaeter, falls
apart; that threat in the everyday when the familiar comes under
pressure.”
Now about that name … Yes, lovers of classical German literature
everywhere, Ulrike von Ribbeck is related to the Herr von Ribbeck im
Havelland in the poem by Theodor Fontane!
“Kids had to learn it at school,” she says, “and the name’s always
associated with it. He was an ancestor and I get people reciting the
poem to me! It happens a great deal!”
Like all young and new directors, von Ribbeck is “optimistic about the
future. I’d love to work in France as it inspires me, but there is also so
much talent in German film and good stories can and will be told.”
Simon Kingsley spoke with Ulrike von Ribbeck
Now, finally unleashed to talk about her latest film, Frueher oder
Spaeter, von Ribbeck immediately expands her definition of teamwork to those behind the camera, singling out co-author Katharina
Held, editor Natali Barrey, casting agent Bernhard Karl, music consultant Martin Hossbach, first AD Petra Misovic and camerawoman
Sonja Rom for praise.
On the writing process, von Ribbeck says she “likes working with coauthors. You talk, you get new ideas, you toss them around. It’s less
lonely! The ideas are your own but team working opens new doors,
new opinions, inspiration and confrontation. Katharina made the
whole process very constructive and I’ll co-write with her again on my
next film.”
While some are content to film the storyboard, von Ribbeck is ready
to seize any opportunity that comes her way if it adds to the film,
such as “when you come across a great prop, like this small ballerina
that turns on a box. I took that immediately! I have my plans and ideas
but am ready to change. If rehearsals give the actors the opportunity
to develop the character then I take that as well. Likewise with the
locations.”
She says she also cares very much about the other partner in the relationship, the audience, “to give them a view of life they might not have
had before. I like it when films stay in the memory, touch and affect
people.”
Then she reels off another list of people, whom she thanks for making
Frueher oder Spaeter happen: Kirsten Niehuus of Medienboard
Berlin-Brandenburg, Lucas Schmidt of ZDF’s Das kleine Fernsehspiel,
Georg Steinert at ARTE, actors Lola Klamroth and Peter Lohmeyer,
2 · 2007
21
Thomas Riedelsheimer, Thomas Wartmann, Stefan Tolz
(photo courtesy of Filmquadrat)
P R O D U C E R S ’ P O RT R A I T
Filmquadrat was founded in 2002 by a trio of experienced independent filmmakers – Thomas Riedelsheimer, Thomas
Wartmann and Stefan Tolz – with the aim of creating a company within which they could be mutually supportive in the making of
their films. Working according to this principle, Filmquadrat has developed into one of the leading German production houses for creative
documentaries with production offices in Munich and Cologne and a
network of international contacts. The company’s output has ranged
from work by the three founders to third party projects, including
Beyond Horizon – The Niger Delta (dirs: Thomas Riedelsheimer, Thomas Wartmann, doc series, 2003), Shomal – Riviera
of the Mullahs (dir: Stefan Tolz, TV doc, 2003), Arjeplog – Ice
and High Tech in Lapland (dir: Claudia Seifert, TV doc, 2004),
Touch the Sound – A Sound Journey with Evelyn
Glennie (dir: Thomas Riedelsheimer, 2004), Adobe Towns (dirs:
Stefan Tolz, Thomas Wartmann, doc series, 2004), Living
Heritage – Beyond Samarkand (dirs: Lisa Eder, Thomas
Wartmann, doc series, 2005), Neither Heaven Nor Hell –
Cuba (dir: Arnim Stauth, TV, 2005), The Dubai Experiment
(dir: Arnim Stauth, TV, 2005), The Search for Happiness (dir:
Annette Dittert, doc series, 2005), Between the Lines – India’s
Third Gender (dir: Thomas Wartmann, 2005), Living
Heritage – The Andean Healer (dirs: Richard Ladkani,
Thomas Wartmann, doc series, 2006), Living Heritage – Days
of the Dead (dirs: Joanna Michna, Thomas Wartmann, doc series,
2006), Nomads (dirs: Bettina Haasen, Thomas Wartmann, doc
series, 2006), and Traders’ Dreams (dirs: Stefan Tolz, Marcus
Vetter, 2006). Filmquadrat’s productions have been shown at numerous international festivals and won several awards at home and abroad. Last year, for example, Lisa Eder and Thomas Wartmann’s
Beyond Samarkand received the Bavarian Television Award, Der
blaue Panther for Best Documentary and the City of Bolzano Award at
the International Mountain Film Festival in Trento, while Annette
Dittert’s The Search for Happiness won two Adolf Grimme
Awards and nominations for the German Camera Award and the
International Emmy Awards. In addition, Thomas Wartmann’s
Between the Lines – India’s Third Gender won, among
other things, the Vision School Award at the Ophuels Festival in
Saarbruecken, the Audience Award at Turin’s Gay & Lesbian Film
Festival and prizes in all categories at River to River in Florence.
Previous to this, Thomas Riedelsheimer’s Touch the Sound was
awarded the main prize of the Critics Week at Locarno in 2004, the
Leipzig Documentary Film Festival’s Golden Dove for Best Film, and a
nomination for the 2004 European Film Awards in the category of
European Documentary of the Year as well as receiving a BAFTA
Award Scotland, the German Film Award ’s Lola for Best Sound Design
and the 2006 One World Film Festival’s prize for Best Sound.
Contact: Filmquadrat
Viktoriastrasse 34 · 80803 Munich/Germany
phone +49-89-38 32 98 20 · fax +49-89-38 32 98 21
Goltsteinstrasse 28-30 · 50968 Cologne/Germany
phone +49-2 21-80 04 71 30 · fax +49-2 21-80 04 71 25
email: info@filmquadrat.de · www.filmquadrat.de
PLATFORM FOR
DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS
A portrait of Filmquadrat
“When we decided to join forces in 2002, the idea was to create an
open platform rather than just establish another production company,” says Stefan Tolz, one of the founding fathers along with
Thomas Riedelsheimer and Thomas Wartmann of
Cologne/Munich-based Filmquadrat.
All three had built up quite a track record in the documentary world
before they took this step to pool their forces.
2 · 2007
Thomas Riedelsheimer, who studied at the Academy of Television &
Film (HFF/M) in Munich, worked after graduation as a freelance
author, director, cameraman and producer, with an increasing focus on
feature-length documentaries for cinema release. His most wellknown work was Rivers and Tides – Andy Goldsworthy Working with
Time which was produced by Berlin-based Mediopolis with Scotland’s
Skyline Productions and was shown in cinemas all over the world,
taking $2.5 million at the US box office.
22
Similarly, Stefan Tolz was a graduate of Munich’s HFF/M, but had also
studied at the Georgian Institute for Theater in Tbilisi, with shortterm stays at the film department of New York University and at the
Beijing Film Academy. He then worked, since 1993, as a freelance
filmmaker and producer for various public broadcasters and productions for theatrical release, with his multi-award-winning feature
documentary On the Edge of Time becoming a ’must-see for cinema
lovers’ around the globe.
leukemia cope with the issues of life and death. Shooting has now
reached halfway through and been mainly done in Munich, with the
financing partly coming from the German Film Award prize-money.
Moreover, Stefan Tolz and Marcus Vetter have been looking at the
phenomenon of the online auction house Ebay in Germany in
Traders’ Dreams which will be released theatrically by Piffl
Medien later this year.
MAKING CONTACTS
Thomas Wartmann, on the other hand, had studied Journalism in
Munich and later Directing at the American Film Institute in Los
Angeles. After working on several productions as an assistant director, he traveled throughout Asia, Africa and South America as a
journalist for leading magazines before focusing on the directing of
more than 25 documentaries since 1994.
OPEN PLAN
“We had been making our films independently with individual companies and came to the realization that it would be better to have a
mutually supportive infrastructure which would also take care of the
films once the production was completed,” Tolz recalls. “The idea
from the outset was that the company should not just be for us, but
should be open for other filmmakers as well so that they could have
a chance of participating in the value chain of their productions.”
Hence, the name Filmquadrat and the fact that there were only three
partners in the company: the fourth corner in the square was to be
kept open for others.
Among the filmmakers welcomed into the Filmquadrat fold were
Claudia Seifert (Arjeplog – Ice and High Tech in Lapland),
Lisa Eder (co-director with Thomas Wartmann on Living
Heritage – Beyond Samarkand), Bettina Haasen (Shadows
of the Desert), Arnim Stauth (The Dubai Experiment),
Annette Dittert (The Search for Happiness) as well as Richard
Ladkani (co-director with Thomas Wartmann on Living Heritage
– The Andean Healer) and Marcus Vetter (co-director on
Traders’ Dreams).
As Tolz explains, the focus of Filmquadrat’s output in the past five
years has been on feature-length documentaries for theatrical release
– such as Touch the Sound and Traders’ Dreams – and documentary series whose subject matter is usually set abroad outside of
Germany. “We don’t make reportages, historical documentaries or
journalistic reports,” he notes. “We come from cinema and thus want
our productions to be visually of a high quality.”
As the titles of Filmquadrat’s productions show – e.g. Beyond
Horizon – The Niger Delta, Shomal – Riviera of the
Mullahs, or Living Heritage – Beyond Samarkand – the
output addresses international issues and is mainly shot in countries
outside of Germany. One of the reasons for this international dimension is, Stefan Tolz argues, the fact that he and Thomas Wartmann,
for example, spent some time studying abroad and so became familiar
with foreign cultures.
But there are exceptions with films where the story is based in
Germany. Thomas Riedelsheimer’s latest theatrical documentary, for
example, Das rote Sofa (working title) is being made in cooperation with a children’s cancer unit in Munich and addresses the
question of how children who are threatened by deadly diseases like
2 · 2007
“As a company, we enjoy a special situation in Germany,” Tolz continues. “There are few people in our age group with similar films
working the way we do, and it is a very small segment.” Moreover, he
is optimistic about the situation of documentary production in
Germany at the moment: “The possibilities have become more varied
and there are many program slots available. The fact is that everything
has become more and more diversified, and the contacts you have
are increasingly important.”
Since founding Filmquadrat, the filmmaker trio has been keen to develop and extend their international network of contacts. “There are
all different kinds of ways of making international contacts: it can be
at the film academies where we are teaching, or when we sit on juries,
or at film festivals when you have a film invited. We have also been
recommended to people by the commissioning editors at SWR, and
the German-French “Rendez-vous” in Cologne and Munich was helpful.”
“At the documentary film festival in Leipzig, for example, we had an
opportunity to meet Canadian and Chinese producers to talk about
projects and the pitching sessions there are in a more family atmosphere than at the Documentary FORUM in Amsterdam.”
FESTIVAL SUCCESSES
In its first five years, Filmquadrat has seen many of its productions
invited to international festivals and picked up for theatrical release or
TV airing by foreign distributors or broadcasters.
Thomas Riedelsheimer’s Touch the Sound was awarded the main
prize of the Critics’ Week after premiering at the Locarno
International Film Festival in August 2004 and then went on to pick up
the Golden Dove for Best Film in Leipzig and a nomination for the 2004
European Film Award in the category of European Documentary of the
Year (Riedelsheimer was a member of the jury for the European
Documentary Award for last year’s European Film Awards presented in
Warsaw in December). Touch the Sound also received a BAFTA
Award Scotland, a Lola for Best Sound Design and the 2006 One
World Film Festival’s prize for Best Sound.
Meanwhile, Thomas Wartmann’s Between the Lines – India’s
Third Gender has been to over 20 festivals, winning such commendations as the Vision School Award at the Ophuels Festival in
Saarbruecken and the Audience Award at Turin’s Gay & Lesbian Film
Festival. The film was on the German Film Academy’s shortlist this
year in the German Film Awards’ categories for Best Sound and Best
Editing.
Moreover, Annette Dittert’s The Search for Happiness was
sold to the UK’s BBC and Russia’s Channel One, won two Adolf
Grimme Awards and received nominations for the German Camera
Prize and the International Emmy Awards.
Martin Blaney
23
Nina Hoss in “Yella” (photo © Hans Fromm)
A C T R E S S ’ P O RT R A I T
Born in Stuttgart in 1975, Nina Hoss received her training at the
renowned Hochschule fuer Schauspielkunst “Ernst Busch” and on
graduating became a member of the company at Berlin’s Deutsches
Theater for two years in 1998. Since then, she has often returned as
a guest to appear there in productions by such directors as Thomas
Ostermeier, Einar Schleef and Amelie Niermeyer. She could be seen
in Michael Thalheimer’s stagings of Lessing’s Emilia Galotti and
Hauptmann’s Einsame Menschen and appeared as Helena in his production of Goethe’s Faust. Der Tragoedie Zweiter Teil. After playing the
title role of Minna von Barnhelm for Amelie Niermeyer, Nina was cast
by Barbara Frey in her version as the maid Franziska opposite Martina
Gedeck and Ulrich Matthes. Moreover, she appeared in the Salzburg
Festspiele production of Jedermann along with this year’s “Shooting
Star” Maximilian Brueckner. In March of this year, she received the
Gertrud Eysoldt Ring, one of the most respected acting awards in the
A
German speaking area, for her interpretation of Eurypides’ Medea in
Frey’s staging at the Deutsches Theater. Nina became known to a
wider audience both through her work with Luc Bondy and Robert
Wilson at the Berliner Ensemble as well as through her roles for TV
and cinema. The lead part in Bernd Eichinger’s TV remake A Girl
Called Rosemarie (Das Maedchen Rosemarie) in 1996
marked her breakthrough, winning her the Golden Camera of the
HÖRZU listings magazine, the German Video Prize, and the Golden Lion.
She has since worked with such film directors as Detlev Buck,
Ottokar Runze, Doris Doerrie and with Christian Petzold on three
occasions. At the 1999 Montreal Film Festival, Nina received the Best
Actress prize for her performance in Der Vulkan and an Adolf
Grimme Award for Petzold’s Something to Remind Me (Toter
Mann) in 2003. Two years later, she picked up her second Grimme
trophy for the second collaboration with Petzold on Wolfsburg.
She took the lead in Hermine Huntgeburth’s The White Masai
(Die weisse Massai) which was based on Corinne Hofmann’s
international bestseller and had its world premiere at the 2005
Toronto International Film Festival, bringing her a Bavarian Film Award
for Best Actress in January 2006. Her title role in Christian Petzold’s
latest film Yella won her a Silver Bear for Best Actress at this year’s
Berlinale in February. A selection of her other films includes: And
Nobody Weeps For Me (Und keiner weint mir nach, dir:
Joseph Vilsmaier, 1995), Love Your Neighbor (Liebe Deine
Naechste, dir: Detlev Buck, 1997), Fire Rider (Feuerreiter,
dir: Nina Grosse, 1997), Die Geiseln von Costa Rica (dir: Uwe
Janson, TV, 1999), “Naked” (Nackt, dir: Doris Doerrie, 2001),
Epstein’s Night (Epsteins Nacht, dir: Urs Egger, 2001),
Bloch – Schwestern (dir: Edward Berger, TV, 2003), Living
with Hannah (Leben mit Hannah, dir: Erica von Moeller,
2005), Elementary Particles (Elementarteilchen, dir:
Oskar Roehler, 2005), The Heart is a Dark Forest (Das
Herz ist ein dunkler Wald, dir: Nicolette Krebitz, 2007), Die
Frau des Anarchisten (co-dirs: Marie Noelle and Peter Sehr,
2007), and Anonyma (dir: Max Faerberboeck, 2007).
Contact:
Players Agentur Management GmbH
Sophienstrasse 21 · 10178 Berlin/Germany
phone +49-30-2 85 16 80 · fax +49-30-2 85 16 86
email: mail@players.de · www.players.de
PASSION FOR ACTING
A portrait of Nina Hoss
It was as if German actress Nina Hoss had been struck by lightning:
for a few seconds she couldn’t believe that her name – and not
Marianne Faithfull’s – had been called out at this year’s Berlinale
awards ceremony to receive the Silver Bear for Best Actress for her
performance as Yella in Christian Petzold’s film of the same name.
But anyone familiar with the 31-year-old’s resume would know that
the award was totally justified and recognition for a talent with much
more to show in the future.
In many respects, it is not that surprising that Nina Hoss should have
2 · 2007
decided to follow the career of an actress: after all, her mother
Heidemarie Rohwedder appeared on the stage and was the former
director of the Wuerttembergische Landesbuehne. Nina’s first
contact with the world of thespians came at the tender age of seven
when she started acting in radio plays. “Some people came from the
radio station to my school and held a casting session,” she recalls.
“I was chosen, but I didn’t do it on a large scale. However, I liked being
on stage and took piano and singing lessons and so on. Acting was
always my passion, and then I started appearing on the stage, with
the first production Ich liebe Dich, ich liebe Dich nicht by Wendy
Kesselmann.”
actress’ portrait
24
“At the time, I set myself a personal test: if it all goes well, then that’s
what I will do, that will be my profession,” Nina says. “Fortunately, it
went really well and so I continued acting and singing until I decided
during high-school to start applying for a place at one of the drama
schools.”
Hoss was accepted by the famous Hochschule fuer Schauspielkunst
“Ernst Busch” – where she studied at the same time as Yella co-star
Devid Striesow – and praises the “very good personal training and the
fact that I had a voice coach who was specially working with me
rather than doing this in a group. The studies were predominantly
geared to acting on the stage, and film really only became aware of
me by chance.”
“The teaching approach was a bit like Stella Adler,” Nina explains.
“You learn from out of a situation and put yourself into a character.
You aim to preserve an openess about the relationship of the character to the space he or she is in and to the other figures.”
The first brush with cinema came before Nina had even made the
move from her home town of Stuttgart to Berlin to start her studies
at “Ernst Busch”: Joseph Vilsmaier was looking for a lead actress for
his next feature And Nobody Weeps For Me and was given her
name by an acting friend. Nina was in her final year at school, but
Vilsmaier liked what he saw and cast her shortly before the film went
before the camera.
Her performance in Vilsmaier’s film was subsequently seen by producer Bernd Eichinger who was preparing his directorial debut with a
remake of A Girl Called Rosemarie as part of SAT.1’s “German
Classics”. Screen tests were made – just a month into her studies at
acting school – and the rest is, as they say, history.
Nina’s lead role as Rosemarie catapulted into the headlines and subsequently the hearts of audiences in cinemas and theater alike, winning the Golden Camera of the HÖRZU listings magazine, the German
Video Prize, and the Golden Lion for her performance. But despite
many tempting offers for film and TV work, she resolutely stayed on
the course at “Ernst Busch” to complete her studies. “I wanted to be
on the stage and also enjoy being a student, something you don’t
always have a chance to do,” Nina says.
As her subsequent career shows, she has been able to combine working for theater and film: “I am not afraid of the stage,” she explains. “I
was helped by the fact that I come from a theater family and had good
advisors and an agent to support me.”
On her graduation from drama school, she became a member of the
company at Berlin’s Deutsches Theater on the invitation of Thomas
Langhoff where she stayed for two years before trying her luck with
freelance status (she has become a permanent member of the company again since 2005). Nevertheless, she often returned as a guest to
appear at the Deutsches Theater in productions by such directors as
Michael Thalheimer (Emilia Galotti, Einsame Menschen) or Barbara
Frey (Minna von Barnhelm). In March of this year, she received the
Gertrud Eysoldt Ring, one of the most respected acting awards in the
German speaking area, for her interpretation of Eurypides’ Medea in
Frey’s production.
“I have also been able to coordinate my theater engagements with
roles for the cinema projects,” Nina observes. “The theater is like a
home away from home for me because it gives me a continuity to
work with interesting people again and again. The combination of
2 · 2007
stage and cinema is good for me – I would really miss it if one of them
was gone because I find that my work in films is something I can use
for my roles on the stage.”
Her regular collaborations with certain theater directors is reflected
in her work for the cinema with the now long-standing working
partnership with Christian Petzold: she first worked with him on
Something to Remind Me in 2001 and followed this a year later
with Wolfsburg, both performances winning her one of the coveted Adolf Grimme Awards, and was then cast in the title role of
Petzold’s 2007 Berlinale competition film Yella.
“Christian has a similar approach to me: he revolves around the story
and the figure and gives me such a freedom,” Nina explains. “I like the
way that he talks about the plot and the characters – he never becomes concrete. I don’t like it when a director tells you in detail how
you should play a scene. A good director should give you space and
their confidence in your ability. The work with Christian is all about
give and take.”
“When I am making a decision about which role to accept, I look to
see if I feel the story is coherent and the figure is interesting for me,”
Nina continues. “And I also think about the other people involved in
the project. In fact, there are so many different factors that lead to this
decision.”
Nina Hoss has often been said to have almost magical qualities in the
way she can slip from one character into another, but she finds it hard
to identify that one film role which was a particular challenge. “Every
film and character is a challenge in its own way. I always have the feeling that each role brings you a little further and that it is an ongoing
process,” she suggests. In her theater work, though, she has no problem naming the role which was a real challenge for her as an actress:
the award-winning performance as Medea.
Winning the Silver Bear in February is sure to have put Nina’s name on
to the radar of many international producers who were perhaps not
so aware of her work, although she did become known to a wider
international audience after the Toronto premiere of Hermine
Huntgeburth’s The White Masai in 2005.
With genuine modesty, the young actress says that she doesn’t want
to get too caught up in the excitement generated at the Berlinale and
prefers to let things take their course. While she is “very satisfied”
with what is now possible in German cinema and the success of the
films on an international level, Nina wouldn’t be averse to taking on
roles in international productions.
A start will be made this month [May] with Marie Noelle and Peter
Sehr’s German-French-Spanish co-production Die Frau des
Anarchisten where she will be required to speak her lines in
French, playing opposite such internationally respected colleagues as
Laura Morante and Jean-Marc Barr. Then, in June, she will follow this
with the lead role in Max Faerberboeck’s Anonyma, to be shot in
Berlin and in St. Petersburg, with Russian actors. “I think it is enriching
for me to act in another language because you get to become
acquainted with other cultures, languages and people,” Nina suggests.
“One gets to see different ways of acting and other approaches to the
characters, and that’s what I like about this greater openness in
European cinema!”
Nina Hoss spoke with Martin Blaney
actress’ portrait
25
2/2007
Scene from “One Who Set Forth: Wim Wenders’ Early Years” (photo courtesy of MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg)
NEWS
DOKVILLE 2007
From 21 - 22 June the MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg-funded
documentary sector meeting will take place: Dokville 2007. One of
the event’s highlights is the Baden-Wuerttemberg Award for Best
Documentary 2007 which is awarded every second year. The award
of €20,000 is presented by the MFG and SWR for outstanding achievement in the field of classical documentary films for television and
cinema. It is one of the highest endowed prizes for documentaries in
Germany.
In 2007, 15 films are nominated – including four projects funded by the
MFG: Comrades in Dreams (Uli Gaulke), Die Unzerbrechlichen (Dominik
Wessely), Heavy Metal auf dem Lande (Andreas Geiger) and One Who
Set Forth: Wim Wenders’ Early Years (Marcel Wehn).
2 · 2007
MFG FUNDS INTERNATIONALLY
SUCCESSFUL PRODUCTIONS
MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg is the competency center for the
film scene in the German federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg and
has been supporting exceptional and cultural film production in the
area since 1995 – from script development and production to distribution and film theater support.
One of the many successful examples of MFG Filmfoerderung’s funded projects is Four Minutes by Chris Kraus. The prison drama tells the
story of two very different characters, an elderly piano teacher and
the young, talented but disturbed convict Jenny who is trained for a
Young Musicians’ competition. The movie has not only emerged as a
screen success but has also won numerous prizes at different renowned film festivals. So far it is being distributed in 40 countries
world wide (e.g. Italy, France and Australia) and was nominated in
eight categories for this year’s German Film Awards.
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26
FLORIAN GOES TO HOLLYWOOD …
Once again this year, German Films and Villa Aurora (Foundation for
European American Relations) in cooperation with the German
Consulate General and the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles welcomed
some 400 guests to the traditional OSCAR reception under the
California sun at the Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades in honor of the
nomination for The Lives of Others.
AWARDS FOR GERMAN SHORT FILMS
IN TAMPERE, ASPEN AND MAR DEL PLATA
At recent festivals, German short films have garnered some major
awards: At the Tampere International Short Film Festival (7-11 March
2007) Michaela Kezele’s short Milan was the first German film to win
the Grand Prix. Fair Trade by Michael Dreher received the Best Drama
award at the Aspen Shortsfest (3-8 April 2007).
M. Wiedemann, U. Muehe, Q. Berg, S. Koch, S. Buhr, P. Rommel,
C. Gordon, C. Danckwerts, M. Borries-Knopp, C. Stocks
(photo © Jack Zeman)
Both awards qualified the films for entry at the 2008 Academy Awards
in the Short Film-Live Action category. At Aspen, Fair Trade also won
the Youth Jury Prize, and Motodrom by Joerg Wagner received the
award for Best Cinematography. And at the Mar del Plata Film Festival
(8-18 March 2007), the ACCA Jury (Asociación Cronistas Cinematográficos de la Argentina) chose the short dark comedy Wigald by
Timon Modersohn as Best Foreign Short Film.
GERMAN SHORT DOCUMENTARIES
IN ECQUADOR AND MEXICO
Scene from “Cousins” (photo © Maria Mohr)
In April 2007, the fourth edition of Ambulart – Festival of Visual Arts,
a non-commercial, trilateral event was organized in Ecuador.
Ambulart is a traveling festival founded in 2004 by German and Latin
American students from the Academy of Visual Arts Hamburg. Its aim
is to stimulate cultural exchange between European and Latin
American countries, thereby improving cultural understanding.
AND THE OSCAR GOES TO …
Florian Henckel von Donnermarck and “OSCAR”
(photo © Jack Zeman)
With the support of German Films, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern and
Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, over 200 guests got together for
a “viewing party” of this year’s OSCAR awards ceremony at a
private villa in Hollywood and celebrated Florian Henckel von
Donnersmarck’s victory into the early morning hours.
The Lives of Others (US distributor: Sony Pictures Classics) got off to
a great start in the US and can already claim the second largest box
office take for a German-language film in the US.
2 · 2007
The German Short Film Association (AG Kurzfilm) presented a selection of outstanding German short documentaries at the
festival: Motodrom by Joerg Wagner, Cousins (Cousin Cousine) by Maria
Mohr, Hallelujah! by Jochen Hick, Through Red Wine (Durch Rotwein
durch) by Dagie Brundert, Cigaretta mon Amour – Portrait of My Father
by Hannah Ziegler, Benidorm by Carolin Schmitz, female/male by
Daniel Lang, and Fresh Air Matchcut (Frischluft Matchcut) by StephanFlint Mueller. Director Maria Mohr was on hand to present the program and conducted a one-week workshop for Ecuadorian filmmakers. Festival venues were the cinema Ocho y Medio in Quito and
the MAAC Cine in Guayaquil. In September 2007, Ambulart will be a
guest of the Museo de Artes in Guadalajara/Mexico. The festival’s
program can also be seen in Hamburg from 10-11 November 2007.
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27
GERMAN PREMIERES IN NEW YORK
Dirk Schuerhoff, Oliver Mahrdt, Marcus H. Rosenmueller,
Andreas Richter (photo © Karin Kohlberg)
Great start into the new year: in January, German Films started off its
new “Premiere” year presenting the national box office hit Grave
Decisions (Wer frueher stirbt ist laenger tot) by Marcus H. Rosenmueller
in the presence of the director, the producer Andreas Richter (Roxy
Film) and world sales agent Dirk Schuerhoff (Beta Cinema).
Award. For the first time in 2006, both prizes were awarded during a
joint ceremony. The tour not only proves that the short film form
brings forth great talent, but also that the short film genre is an experimental field for technical and aesthetic innovation. At the same time,
the tour mirrors the creative diversity of current topics that German
short films are dealing with today. And Germany’s communal cinemas
are particularly active in supporting and promoting short films – this
year’s tour marking the eighth time that such an event has been
organized. Tour dates and further information are available at
www.kommunale-kinos.de and www.kurzfilmpreisunterwegs.org.
The Grenzen program will be presenting: The Ballad Battle by Dirk
Hendler, Motodrom by Joerg Wagner, Eine einfache Liebe by Maike Mia
Hoehne, Kein Platz fuer Gerold (Short Tiger Award 2006) by Daniel
Nocke, Dog by Daniel Lang, Fair Trade (German Short Film Award 2006)
by Michael Dreher, and Hattenhorst (Short Tiger 2006) by Ove Sander.
The Suechte program will screen: Ralf Stadler’s Zigarettenpause
(German Short Film Award 2006), Hanna Nordholt and Fritz
Steingrobe’s Drei Grazien, Hanna Doose’s Gut moeglich, dass ich fliegen
kann, and Carolin Schmitz’ documentary Benidorm.
A JOINT EFFORT FOR FILM
Scene from “Duell in Griesbach”
(photo © Olaf Held/Filmwerkstatt Chemnitz)
In March, Ulrike Ottinger arrived in New York with her latest film
Prater, which had its world premiere during the Berlinale. Ottinger was
accompanied by Ida Martins (Media Luna Entertainment) who is handling the film’s international sales. In April, the documentary The Big
Sellout by Florian Opitz was also screened to buyer’s in New York, just
before it was shown in competition at Nyon. Director Opitz and
world sales agent Thorsten Schaumann (Bavaria Film International)
were on hand for the screening in New York.
The new joint Filmfoerderung Hamburg SchleswigHolstein is due to commence operating from Hamburg as of this
June. The merge entails the examination of the combined economic
space. Thus the regional effects cease to be split up within the funding
section, while the film commission sees a substantial increase in
attractive shooting locations. “Both federal states will profit from this
fusion. In future we can operate more generously and are in a position
to promote both locations and their respective advantages together,”
says Eva Hubert, executive director of FilmFoerderung
Hamburg. Besides the fusion of the film funding institutions of
Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, the mutual interstate media treaty
also regulates the joining together of both respective regional media
authorities. The new MAHSH has already begun its work and will be
seated in Norderstedt.
GERMAN SHORT FILM AWARD 2006
ON TOUR
Scene from “Motodrom”
(photo courtesy of BV Kommunale Filmarbeit)
The best short films from 2006 will be touring German communal
cinemas until October 2007. Two programs (Grenzen and Suechte) will
be presenting the German Short Film Award nominated and winning
films and the winners of the German Federal Film Board’s Short Tiger
SHORT FILM LOUNGE IN CANNES
After the huge success last year, the German Short Film
Association (AG Kurzfilm) resumes its activities in Cannes. As
the major event, AG Kurzfilm, the BMW Group and German Films
2 · 2007
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28
FFF BAYERN AND THE OSCAR:
A DECADE’S STORY …
FFF Bayern’s Dr. Klaus Schaefer, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
After having won all important German Film Awards as well as three
European Film Awards, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s drama The
Lives of Others finally achieved the ultimate success in the film business: In February, the FFF-funded production by Wiedemann & Berg,
BR, ARTE and creado film won the OSCAR as “Best Foreign Language
Film”. The OSCAR-nomination for a supported film has become a
pleasant routine for FFF Bayern: This year’s success was the 15th
nomination since the Bavarian film fund’s foundation in 1996. In 1997,
Caroline Link first entered OSCAR territory with her debut feature
Beyond Silence.
In 2001 Florian Gallenberger’s Quiero Ser won an OSCAR for Best Short
Film, and Steffen Schaeffler’s The Periwig Maker received a nomination
for Best Animated Short. Two years later, two FFF-supported films
won Academy Awards: Nowhere in Africa by Caroline Link and The
Pianist by Roman Polanski, which won three OSCARS and had four
further nominations. In 2005, Luigi Falorni and Byambasuren Davaa
were short-listed for their documentary The Story of the Weeping
Camel, accompanied by Oliver Hirschbiegel for The Downfall as Best
Foreign Language Film. Marc Rothemund followed the year after:
Sophie Scholl – The Last Days was nominated in 2006.
GERMAN SHORT FILMS IN ABU DHABI
From 7 – 13 March 2007, the Cultural Foundation of Abu Dhabi/
United Arab Emirates organized the 6th edition of the Emirates Film
Competition. Last year, the competition for filmmakers from Arab
countries was complemented by a non-competitive section for international short films.
Scene from “Stay Like This”
(photo © Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg)
will hold a reception to create a meeting point for the short film scene
in Cannes. On May 19th at 6pm, industry professionals and filmmakers are invited to a Short Film Lounge on the boat El Bravo.
Additionally, with the support of German Films, international buyers
and festivals once again have the opportunity to access German short
films in the Short Film Corner. This year’s selection includes some of
the most recent German short film productions: the short fictions
Duel in Griesbach (Duell in Griesbach) by Olaf Held and Moonman
(Mondmann) by Fritz Boehm, as well as the short documentary
Chainsaw Woodcarver (Der Holzmenschbauer) by Katrin Jaeger. To provide an additional service for industry professionals, the short films
presented in the Short Film Corner are available on the fourth volume
of the German Short Films DVD edition.
This year’s topic, Road Cinema, dealt not only with the classic perception of “the road”, but also with its philosophical, social and professional dimension, i.e. changes in life and the crossing of real or imagined borders. 18 German short films were screened at the festival,
including Stay Like This (Einfach so bleiben) by Sven Taddicken, Subway
Score by Alexander Isert, and The Raft (Das Floss) by Jan Thuering.
FILMSTIFTUNG NRW’S INTERNATIONAL
FILM CONGRESS: “LIMITLESS” IN COLOGNE
Where does it work well, and where are there still problems with
international co-productions? This is just one of the topics to be discussed during the Filmstiftung NRW’s International Film Congress
from 16 – 19 June 2007. Under the motto “Limitless”, the North
Rhine Westphalia-based film funder invites the international film industry to the Cologne Exhibition for the Medienforum NRW to examine
the possibilities of transnational cooperation and the current situation
of European films in the individual neighboring countries. In addition
to the top-class panels, which will also present the new German
Federal Film Fund, the event will serve as the German premiereground and preview forum for NRW-funded films and offer a co-production meeting, organized this year in cooperation with ACE.
More information about the International Film Congress is available
on the Filmstiftung’s website www.filmstiftung.de or contact
filmkongress@filmstiftung.de.
2 · 2007
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29
Germany’s most successful producers and distributors of German films were awarded a total
of €18.5 million in March during the
German Federal Film Board’s FFA
Branchentiger 2007 get-together. The
deciding factors for the prize money
are the number of tickets sold and
awards received. The most successful
producers at national and international film festivals in 2006 were Berlinbased Razor Film Produktion, whose
film Paradise Now won a Golden Globe
among other honors, and Wiedemann &
Berg Filmproduktion, whose production
The Lives of Others began its victory march in
2006 with the German Film Award in Gold and
the European Film Award.
The FFA’s Branchentiger 2007
(photo courtesy of the FFA)
For the third year in a row, Constantin Film Produktion and
Constantin Film Verleih took home the Golden Branchentiger in both
categories: production and distribution. The Munich-based company
(whose hits include Perfume – The Story of a Murderer, Elementary
Particles, Hui Buh – The Goofy Ghost, and The Robber Hotzenplotz,
among others) received €3.4 million in support funds for new feature
projects. In the field of production, the other Branchentigers were
SamFilm (The Wild Soccer Bunch 1 – 3) with €1.3 million and
Zipfelmuetzen Film (7 Dwarves – The Wood is Not Enough). The distribution Tigers were X Verleih AG (Summer in Berlin, Into Great Silence,
Requiem) with €424,594 in funding and Buena Vista International
Germany (The Lives of Others and The Wild Soccer Bunch 3, among
others) with €284,147.
GERMAN FEDERAL FILM FUND IN
THE WORLD WIDE WEB
Since the beginning of 2007, the German film industry has a new funding model that can hold up competitively in the European context.
On the initiative of State Minister for Culture Bernd Neumann, the
German federal government is putting up €180 million over the next
three years for the German Federal Film Fund in order to
promote Germany as a film location.
The German Federal Film Fund Team
(photo courtesy of the FFA)
GERMANY’S INDUSTRY TIGERS 2007
To find out more about the new fund since its introduction in January
2007, just go to www.ffa.de/dfff for a pool of information about the
innovative funding model. The website provides an up-to-date production list of projects which have received this support with complete crew and content information and a project status report.
Answers to detailed questions can be found in the BKM Guidelines,
which are available for download, as is the application form. And of
course, the FAQs offer a quick alternative to some of most common
inquiries into the fund. All information is available in both English and
French.
FIRST MOONSTONE FILMMAKERS’ LAB
IN THURINGIA
The reference funding is based on the legal claims that producers and
distributors are entitled to as laid down in the Federal Funding Law
(FFG). The FFG makes it possible for companies to receive financial
support based on the audience and festival success of their films and
provides funds for the production and distribution of new projects.
The funding is available without any obligations to location or to television broadcasters and can be used without having to receive project
approval from a funding committee.
2 · 2007
This year the international training initiative Moonstone International
is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Established in 1997 in Edinburgh in
cooperation with Robert Redford and the Sundance Institute,
Moonstone has organized numerous Screenwriters’ and Filmmakers’
Labs which have been instrumental in bringing forth internationally
successful films. Two years ago, Moonstone opened an office in
Leipzig to serve as the contact central for writers and filmmakers from
German-speaking as well as Eastern and Central European countries.
And Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung has been supportive
of Moonstone East from the outset: after four Screenwriters’ Labs in
Central Germany, a first Filmmakers’ Lab took place from 13 – 28
April 2007 in Thuringia. Eight young directors were able to gain filmmaking experience with a complete crew and with renowned
directors such as John Irvin, Robert Pejo and Srdan Golubovic as advisors. Other Moonstone Lab supporters include the EU MEDIA program and the German Federal Film Board.
news
30
Scene from “The Runt” (photo © Studio Film Bilder)
GERMAN ANIMATIONS IN ANNECY
GmbH
Gm
mbH
For the first time, German Films and the German Short Film
Association are partners of MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg, the
Animations Department of the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg
and the Festival of Animated Film Stuttgart in holding the German
Reception at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival. The
festival in Annecy and the accompanying film market MIFA are the biggest business venues for animated film worldwide. The reception is
scheduled for 12 June 2007 at the hotel Le Clos Marcel. Among the
short films competing for the Annecy Cristal this year are four German
shorts: Bernd und sein Leben by Ingo Schiller and Stephan-Flint Mueller,
Bildfenster/Fensterbilder by Bert Gottschalk, Canary Beat by Juergen
Haas, and Der Kloane (The Runt) by Andreas Hykade.
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2 · 2007
news
31
Chiko
Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Drama
Production Company corazón international/Hamburg, in coproduction with NDR/Hamburg With backing from
Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), German Federal Film Fund (DFFF),
FilmFoerderung Hamburg, Nordmedia, Kuratorium junger deutscher
Film Producers Fatih Akin, Klaus Maeck Director Oezguer
Yildirim Screenplay Oezguer Yildirim Director of Photography Matthias Bolliger Editor Sebastian Thuemler Production
Design Iris Trescher Principal Cast Denis Moschitto, Moritz
Bleibtreu, Volkan Oezcan, Fahri Oguen Yardim, Reyhan Sahin
Casting Nurhan Sekerci Special Effects Norbert Skodock
Format 16 mm, color, blow-up to 35 mm, 1:1.85, Dolby Digital
Shooting Language German Shooting in Hamburg, Hanover,
February – April 2007 German Distributor Falcom Media
Group/Berlin
Musical Theater and Film, today known as the Hamburg Media School,
and graduated as a director in 2004.
He has already made a number of shorts, including the 2002 Der
noetige Schneid, which was nominated for the Short Tiger Award at the
Filmfest Munich, an award he was to carry away two years later with
Alim Market. This latter film was also nominated for the First Steps
Award 2004 and the Studio Hamburg Newcomer Award for Best Film.
Chiko is played by Denis Moschitto, last seen on the big screen in
the comedy Kebab Connection in which he played the young hero, Ibo,
trying to win back his pregnant girlfriend Titzi by persuading her he can
indeed be a good father. As wonderful and charming as he was in that
film, think of Chiko as the flipside of the coin and if any young actor
can carry it off, it’s Moschitto.
Moritz Bleibtreu (Elementary Particles) plays Brownie, the local big
man, who eventually forces Chiko to question where his loyalties and
future lie: it is a question of life and death.
Production company corazón international was founded in
2003 by Fatih Akin, Andreas Thiel and Klaus Maeck. Their
films include Akin’s Head-On, which won, among many others, the
Golden Bear in Berlin in 2004, Crossing the Bridge – The Sound of
Istanbul, which screened Out of Competition in Cannes in 2005, and
most recently Auf der anderen Seite, screening this year In Competition
in Cannes.
SK
On location for “Dr. Alemán”
(photo courtesy of 2 Pilots Film)
Denis Moschitto in “Chiko”
(photo © corazón international/Maria Krumwiede)
IN PRODUCTION
Contact
corazón international GmbH & Co KG
Ann-Kristin Demuth
Ditmar-Koel-Strasse 26 · 20459 Hamburg/Germany
phone +49-40-3 11 82 38 34 · fax +49-40-3 11 82 38 21
email: kristin@corazon-int.de · www.corazon-int.de
Marking the feature directorial debut of Oezguer Yildirim,
Chiko is as hard and gnarly as any film about a Turkish wannabe drug
boss can be.
Throwing instead of pulling its punches, this is the story of Isa (as he’s
actually named, but who finds the nickname Chiko much cooler) who
grows up in a Hamburg suburb. It might be one of the world’s richest
cities but every beast has its belly and here, in the very underbelly,
Chiko lives in a world where violence, staking and keeping a claim, and
drug taking are the norm. Where down is not an option, Chiko is
determined to rise to the top, whatever and whomever it costs.
Regardless of time and circumstances, he wants immediate and unlimited respect. And with the means justifying his ends, for Chiko
every means is justified.
Yildirim, who also wrote the script, was born in 1979 in Hamburg and
had a novel (Graue Naechte, translation: “Grey Nights”) published
when he was just fourteen. After graduating high school and completing his non-military service, he entered the University for Theater,
2 · 2007
Dr. Alemán
Type of Project Action/Adventure, Drama Production
Company 2 Pilots Filmproduction/Cologne With backing
from éQuinoxe, BKM, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), Filmstiftung
NRW, MEDIA Plus Producers Harry Floeter, Joerg Siepmann
Director Tom Schreiber Screenplay Oliver Keidel Director of
Photography Olaf Hirschberg Editor Andreas Wodraschke
Production Design Alex Scherer Principal Cast August Diehl
Casting Anja Dihrberg Special Effects Flash Art Format 35
mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby Digital Shooting Language Spanish
Shooting in Cali/Colombia, North-Rhine Westphalia, May – June
2007 German Distributor ZORRO Filmverleih/Munich
in production
32
Mira Gittner, Wolfgang Seidenberg
(photo courtesy of wtp)
World Sales
TELEPOOL GmbH · Wolfram Skowronnek
Sonnenstrasse 21 · 80331 Munich/Germany
phone +49-89-55 87 60 · fax +49-89-55 87 62 29
email: cinepool@telepool.de · www.telepool.de
It’s a common complaint: there are not enough good scripts. That
doesn’t stop films getting made, of course. And a good script can
always be killed by the wrong director, miscasting, bad camerawork,
poor editing, etc. But start with a good script and you have as solid a
foundation as possible. With Dr. Alemán, Oliver Keidel won
the German Script Award 2006.
Dr. Alemán is the story of Marc, a 26-year-old German medical
student, who decides to spend his year of on-the-job training in
Colombia. What starts off as an adventure very quickly develops into
a fight between life and death – and death is an ever-present threat
that is not confined just to the hospital.
Referencing such films as City of God, Blow, Traffic and The Beach, Dr.
Alemán is, says Keidel, “an emotional film about a young man
searching for adventure. It’s about the collision of two cultures in
extreme form, a man from cosy Germany in the hardest region of
South America, in a city with the highest murder rate.”
Director Tom Schreiber was “fascinated by Marc’s story because
it tells what it’s like to be lost in a foreign world. It tells of the hope
of understanding the foreign reality, of the desperate attempt to
adapt to foreign places and integrate into foreign societies, and of the
fact, that despite all efforts, you always remain an outsider.”
In fact, Dr. Alemán originated when Schreiber described to Keidel
the true story of a friend of his, a German anaesthetist, who spent a
year doing on-the-job medical training in Cali.
With a mixture of professionals and non-actors, Dr. Alemán promises to deliver another show stopping performance from August
Diehl. German Film Award, Best Actor, 1999; European “Shooting
Star”, Berlinale 2000; German Film Critic’s Award for Best Actor (for
Was nuetzt die Liebe in Gedanken) 2005, Diehl brings a depth to his
performances that few actors his age can.
Says Diehl, “Dr. Alemán describes via its story, and especially via its
main character, what it’s like to make a decision based on the need to
look for danger. The need to look for oneself in something strange
and foreign, as it were.”
Dr. Alemán will not be an easy journey, and there is no guarantee
of arriving safely, but it promises to be an exciting ride!
SK
Die Einsamkeit ist
nie allein
Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Tragicomedy,
Phantasmagoria Production Company wtp international/
Munich Producers Patricia Koch, Marina Anna Eich, Roland Reber
Director Roland Reber Screenplay Roland Reber, Mira Gittner
Directors of Photography Mira Gittner, Juergen Kendzior
Editor Mira Gittner Music by Wolfgang Edelmayer Production
Design Martin Lippert, Christoph Baumann Principal Cast Mira
Gittner, Wolfgang Seidenberg, Marina Anna Eich, Sabrina Brencher,
Antonio Exacoustos, Andreas Heinzel, Sven Thiemann Format DV
Cam, blow-up to 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby SR Shooting
Language German Studio Location Panther Studios/Oberhaching Shooting in Munich, Landsberg/Lech, Kaufbeuren, April –
May 2007
World Sales
wtp international GmbH · Marina Anna Eich
Bayerisches Filmzentrum · Bavariafilmplatz 7
82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany
phone +49-89-64 98 11 12 · fax +49-89-64 98 13 12
email: wtp@wtpfilm.de · www.wtpfilm.de
Lest we forget, film itself is just a medium. It is the message that
counts. Each film, and here we are talking about the finished product,
whether it be viewed in a cinema, on TV or DVD, seeks to elicit an
emotional response. That response can be measured in the number
of millions it takes at the box office, bags of popcorn sold, merchandise shifted over the counter: the film as product, if you like, the ones
with star names and the classic three-act structure.
Then there are other films, the ones that seek to elicit an emotional
response in the same way Philip Glass does with his music; minimalist
and profound. Die Einsamkeit ist nie allein (translation:
“Lonliness is Never Alone”) is just such a film.
The man (Wolfgang Seidenberg) flees from the constant
reoccurances of his life; from the expectations, from the responsibility
forced upon him by a normal life. On a disused industrial estate he
meets Godot (Mira Gittner), a woman who collects rubbish, lives
in an old caravan and spends her time on a paradise island, a rubber
boat with inflatable palm tree, drifting along the city’s sewers, searching for signs of human existence.
In memories, tragic and strange phantasmagorias, the man – in this
2 · 2007
in production
33
one night – reviews his own life. In his visions he meets the main
characters of his life: the wife (Marina Anna Eich), whom he has
left, his girlfriend, his mother, his grandfather.
“The film is a phantasmagoric excursion into the depths of the soul,”
explains writer-director-producer Roland Reber. “It is a revue-like
confrontation with the forces of the conscious and subconscious. The
man’s confused thoughts,” he continues, “offer the material for a
media spectacle that excludes not a single genre of the contemporary
media landscape, with intellectual discourses and fantastic images,
crazy and grotesque scenes that twist fairytales and satirize the political past. In partly impressively real, partly amazingly surreal images full
of comedy, the man zaps through his thoughts like through a television program.”
In 2001 Roland Reber won the Emerging Filmmaker Award at the Angel
City Hollywood Film Festival for his feature-length thriller Das
Zimmer.
wtp international dates back to 1998 and, says actress-producer
Marina Anna Eich, “makes all its feature films without subsidy or
broadcaster money so we are even more engaged with the project
and place the emphasis on artistic creativity. We see ourselves as a
forum of innovative materials and techniques.”
Jan Josef Liefers, Julia Jentsch in
“Fruehstueck mit einer Unbekannten“
(photo © SAT.1/Stefan Rabold)
SK
Fruehstueck mit einer
Unbekannten
Type of Project TV Movie Genre Romantic Comedy
Production Company Egoli Tossell Film/Berlin, in co-production
with Cinema for Peace & Star Entertainment/Berlin With backing
from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg Producers Judy Tossell,
Jens Meurer, Jaka Bizilj Director Maria von Heland Screenplay
Martin Rauhaus, adapted from English original by Richard Curtis
Director of Photography Gero Steffen Editor Patricia
Rommel Music by Biber Gullatz Production Design Ulrika von
Vegesack Principal Cast Julia Jentsch, Jan Josef Liefers, Andrea
Sawatzki, Stefan Kurt, Juergen Heinrich Casting Anja Dihrberg
Format S16 mm, color, 1:1.78, Dolby SR Shooting Language
German Shooting in Berlin and Heiligendamm, February – March
2007
2 · 2007
Contact
SevenOne International GmbH
Medienallee 7 · 85774 Unterfoehring/Germany
phone +49-89-95 07 23 20 · fax +49-89-95 07 23 21
email: info@sevenoneinternational.com
www.sevenoneinternational.com
The idea for Fruehstueck mit einer Unbekannten came
during a conversation after the awards ceremony of the Cinema for
Peace gala during last year’s Berlinale.
The British screenwriter Richard Curtis, whose credits include Four
Weddings and a Funeral, Mr Bean and Bridget Jones, had just received
an award for his BBC/HBO film The Girl in the Cafe and was talking to
event organizer Jaka Bizilj and Bob Geldof about the possibility of
making a German version to coincide with the G8 summit being held
in Germany in June 2007.
“Jaka very quickly got SAT.1 onboard and then approached us to be
the producers,” recalls Berlin-based producer Judy Tossell who
was reunited on this project with director Maria von Heland with
whom she made the comedy Big Girls Don’t Cry in 2001. “Jan Josef
[Liefers] was the first choice for the male lead, but we decided to
make him much younger than Bill Nighy in the original,” Tossell
explains. “Julia Jentsch was cast as ‘the girl’ [played by Kelly
McDonald in the BBC version] just before Christmas, and the rest of
the cast includes Iris Berben as the Federal Chancellor, Stefan
Kurt, Andrea Sawatzki, Joerdis Triebel and Juergen
Heinrich.”
Moreover, Tossell landed quite a coup during the shoot in February by
persuading French diva Catherine Deneuve – who is one of the
leading lights of the Cinema for Peace initiative – to make a cameo
appearance as a mysterious French delegate at the summit in a morning shoot at the Konzerthaus at Gendarmenmarkt just hours after the
Cinema for Peace gala had been staged there.
But it was quite a race against time for the production, since, as with
the BBC film, the idea all along was to have the finished TV film aired
in the days leading up to the G8. Thus, SAT.1 is planning to broadcast
von Heland’s film at the end of May in a primetime slot.
Adapted by Martin Rauhaus from Curtis’ original screenplay, the
German version has Liefers as a research assistant of the Finance
Minister and shy workaholic who falls in love in a coffee shop with the
unconventional Gina (played by Jentsch who was in Berlin this year
with Jiri Menzel’s competition film I Served the King of England). She
follows his invitation to accompany him to the G8 summit in
Heiligendamm where she not only changes his life but also causes
ripples among the other bureaucrats there.
“It will be younger, sweeter and lighter, but the political side is just as
pronounced as in the Curtis original. It is more of a classical romantic
comedy with a political twist,” Tossell observes. “We have made the
couple younger and the girl is more like a normal young woman that
the audience would be able to identify with.”
Tossell points out that the project will come into its own with the
DVD release of Fruehstueck mit einer Unbekannten: “It is
more than just a one-off TV film, there is so much more you can do
with background materials on the G8 and Cinema for Peace.”
in production
34
Moreover, the venture will also be benefiting some good causes:
SAT.1 is donating all income from DVD, video and international sales
to the UNICEF schools in Africa as well as “Deine Stimme gegen
Armut”, the German branch of Richard Curtis’ “Make Poverty
History” campaign. Furthermore, producers Egoli Tossell Film
and Cinema for Peace will be waiving any profit and all proceeds from
the production, and Curtis has committed to donate his fee for the
adaptation rights to “Make Poverty History”.
“Hanami” team (photo © courtesy of Olga Film)
MB
Hanami
Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Drama Production Company Olga Film/Munich With backing from
Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern,
Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), German Federal Film Fund (DFFF)
Producers Molly von Fuerstenberg, Harald Kuegler Director
Doris Doerrie Screenplay Doris Doerrie Director of Photography Hanno Lentz Editor Inez Regnier Production Design
Bele Schneider Principal Cast Elmar Wepper, Hannelore Elsner,
Nadja Uhl, Birgit Minichmayr, Felix Eitner, Maximilian Brueckner,
Floriane Daniel Casting Nessie Nesslauer Format HD, blow-up
to 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby Shooting Language German
Shooting in Tokyo, Berlin, Baltic Sea coast, Allgaeu, March – April
2007 German Distributor Majestic Filmverleih/Berlin
World Sales
Bavaria Film International
Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH · Thorsten Schaumann
Bavariafilmplatz 8 · 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany
phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20
email: international@bavaria-film.de
www.bavaria-film-international.com
Doris Doerrie has once more traveled around the globe to the
distant climes of Japan for her latest production Hanami after
having filmed there in the past for her two features Enlightenment
Guaranteed and The Fisherman and His Wife.
“We worked over the past two years with Doris on this film idea and
it is naturally wonderful that we are able to work together again after
such a long time. The film is just right for us,” von Fuerstenberg declares.
“This new film can’t be seen as a continuation of the previous two
films set in Japan,” she stresses. “There is perhaps a little connection
with Enlightenment Guaranteed, but in fact it is really something quite
different.” Unlike many of her previous films, Hanami is not based
on one of Doerrie’s short stories, but is an original story this time.
Doerrie and the Olgas have put an impressive cast together for this
tragicomic drama about a widower traveling from Germany to Japan
in the search of the lost dreams of his late wife.
“The cast was pretty clear from the outset,” von Fuerstenberg recalls,
“but we then had to re-cast one role at the last minute when Monica
Bleibtreu fell ill and we were fortunately able to get Hannelore
Elsner instead.” This year’s “Shooting Star” Maximilian
Brueckner plays the widower’s son who is living in Japan, and other
roles are taken by Nadja Uhl (Summer in Berlin), Birgit
Minichmayr (Fallen) and Floriane Daniel (Wintersleepers).
“The shooting schedule was so rigid for us to start in the middle of
March because the global warming means that the blossoming of the
cherry trees in Japan is taking place earlier than ever,” she continues.
“This is an important element in the film so we couldn’t postpone the
start of shooting.”
The producers and Doerrie are also very pleased to have been able
to cast Elmar Wepper in the role of the widower: “We knew that
he is a very good actor and would be the right choice to play an older,
Bavarian civil servant from the countryside,” von Fuerstenberg says.
Indeed, Doerrie had worked with Wepper on her last feature The
Fisherman and His Wife and Olga Film knew him from their collaboration on the 2005 TV movie Mathilde liebt by Wolfram Paulus.
However, it is the first time that Doerrie will have worked with the
cinematographer Hanno Lentz whose feature film credits include
the lensing of Sherry Hormann’s Guys and Balls and Jobst Oetzmann’s
The Loneliness of the Crocodiles.
“We are shooting in the HD format because it is very important for
Doris and us at Olga Film to have this feeling of mobility and to be up
close to the characters,” von Fuerstenberg explains. “And you have a
much better chance of really capturing the crazy atmosphere in Tokyo
than if you tried to set up a 35 mm camera there.”
After the Japanese end of the shoot, the production moved at the
beginning of April to locations in Berlin and on the Baltic Sea coast
before wrapping in the Allgaeu region in Southern Germany at the
end of April.
MB
The €2.9 million film also marks another kind of reunion: with Molly
von Fuerstenberg and Harald Kuegler’s Munich-based production house Olga Film which had produced Doerrie’s international breakthrough hit Men more than twenty years ago as well as
two other of her films, Straight Through the Heart and Money.
2 · 2007
in production
35
Type of Project Documentary Cinema Genre Tragicomedy,
Society Production Company Wasabi Film/Munich With
backing from Filmstiftung NRW, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern
Producers Martin Kircher, Hendrik Feil Director Ursula Scheid
Screenplay Ursula Scheid Directors of Photography Armin
Dierolf, Petra Wallner Format HDV-C Pro, blow-up to 35 mm,
color, 1:1.85, Dolby SR Shooting Language Chinese Shooting
in Beijing, Chang Chun, Gong Zhu Lin, February & May 2007
In episode four, a young couple plan their wedding and celebrate, sing
karaoke, argue, play with teddy bears and swear eternal love to each
other. “At the end of the film,” says Scheid, “I explain, from the dog’seye perspective, about the new love people have developed for the
animal, of dyed and stuffed dogs, of dog restaurants and dog
cemeteries. Of the Olympic dog, Milu, his owner and life in poverty
in Hutong. Also, dog training with the Beijing police and a dog butcher.
Of stories and places that have not been revealed before.”
As should now be patently obvious, Im Jahr des Hundes is about
dogs in China and more than about dogs in China. It is about China
itself, from a wholly new perspective; the dog as metaphor, as a
vehicle for a new and original take on this amazing country.
Founded in 2006 by Martin Kircher and Hendrik Feil,
Wasabi Film takes its name from the very hot and delicious green
horseradish, without which no sushi is complete. Once tasted, never
forgotten!
SK
Max Riemelt, Uwe Ochsenknecht in
“Ironman” (photo © enigma film/Kerstin Stelter)
Scene from “Im Jahr des Hundes”
(photo courtesy of Wasabi Film)
Im Jahr des Hundes
old man, a civil servant, who was born in the Year of the Dog.
Mourning his deceased wife, he dares to start anew.
Contact
Wasabi Film GmbH & Co. KG · Hendrik Feil
Bayerisches Filmzentrum · Bavariafilmplatz 7
phone +49-89-64 98 12 00 · fax +49-89-64 98 13 00
email: info@wasabifilm.com · www.wasabifilm.com
In the words of writer-director Ursula Scheid, “Im Jahr des
Hundes tells of dogs in China and about the dogs of people and
about the people of that society. Of belief and superstition, of the
rituals in the Year of the Dog, of dog owners and dog food, of children and money, of loneliness and faith in the future. These are entertaining stories, informative, bright and wacky, critical and sad. I come
closer to the people via the dogs, and vice versa.”
Scheid, who is no stranger to China, least of which being that she did
her Master’s degree in Sino-German Relations, has known most of
her film’s protagonists for many years. “Close enough,” she says, “to
share a part of their lives, to show their everyday existence.”
Opting for an episodic structure, Im Jahr des Hundes narrates
several stories.
There is the nouveau-riche and pregnant property dealer who has left
her dog, and a 50-year-old woman who was left by her husband and
lives, together with her dog and old mother, in a dark flat. They tell of
the problems of having children while unmarried, the high dog tax and
the prices of property.
Episode two features an artist’s family, with one child and six dogs,
who have settled for life in the country. Scheid depicts their everyday
life; getting up, cooking, playing chess. The conversation ranges from
the Year of the Dog and faith to art and money.
Ironman
Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Drama
Production Company enigma film/Munich, in co-production
with Odeon Pictures/Munich, Lunaris Film- und Fernsehproduktion/Munich, Neue Kinowelt Filmproduktion/Berlin With
backing from Filmstiftung NRW, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA),
FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, German Federal Film Fund (DFFF)
Producers Fritjof Hohagen, Clarens Grollmann Director Adnan
G. Koese Screenplay Adnan G. Koese, Fritjof Hohagen Director
of Photography James Jacobs Editor Alexander Dittner
Production Design Oliver Hoese Principal Cast Max Riemelt,
Jasmin Schwiers, Axel Stein, Uwe Ochsenknecht, Ingo Naujoks
Casting Buenker Casting/Berlin Format 35 mm, color, cs, Dolby
Digital 5.1 Shooting Language German Shooting in Dinslaken,
Amsterdam, Lanzarote, February – March, May 2007 German
Distributor Kinowelt Filmverleih/Leipzig
Northern China is the setting of the third episode where we meet an
2 · 2007
in production
36
World Sales
Beta Cinema / Dept. of Beta Film GmbH
Andreas Rothbauer
Gruenwalder Weg 28 d · 82041 Oberhaching/Germany
phone +49-89-67 34 69 80 · fax +49-89-6 73 46 98 88
email: ARothbauer@betacinema.com
www.betacinema.com
In 2000, an article in the magazine Der Spiegel on the book about the
true story of the world-class triathlete Andreas Niedrig caught the
attention of producer Frithjof Hohagen.
“The book Vom Junkie zum Ironman created quite a stir at the time,”
Hohagen recalls. “There were TV documentaries about the case, and
several film production companies showed interest in the story, but
nothing then came of these plans.”
“Moreover, my background as an actor means that when we are
rehearsing, I am not in front of the monitor, but always like to be with
the actors as if on the stage. That physical contact is important for
me.”
80% of the shoot was in and around Dinslaken – an area Koese knew
well as he originates from this part of the Ruhr region – and the production team couldn’t want for more support from the local people
and authorities, with mayor Sabine Weiss doing everything in her
power to make the shoot feel welcome. The NRW shoot was then
followed by a day of scenes in Amsterdam and then a break of six
weeks for Riemelt to “fatten up” to look like a real sportsman before
three days of filming on Lanzarote during the real Ironman competition in mid-May.
MB
Director Stefan Arsenijevic (right) on the set of
“Liebe und andere Verbrechen”
(photo © COIN Film/Biljana Ristivojcevic)
However, when he set up Munich-based enigma film with partner
Clarens Grollmann in 2004, the Ironman story came to mind
again and he approached Niedrig in person to discuss the idea of
making a film about his life. The next step was to find a director, the
choice falling on Adnan G. Koese whom Hohagen already knew
from a previous collaboration.
As Koese recalls, his reaction after being approached by Hohagen was
to ask to meet Niedrig: “I am interested in the person behind the
story and in getting to know them. We met and a very good relationship developed with Andreas, giving me every creative freedom.”
“We have had a very close and trusting collaboration with Andreas
and he has been very supportive and constructive with his advice,”
Hohagen adds.
“Creatively, one of the very first questions was who would play
Andreas and we had extensive casting sessions in Berlin with many of
the leading young German actors attending,” he continues.
Germany’s “Shooting Star” 2005 Max Riemelt, whose previous
credits include Napola and The Red Cockatoo, was finally chosen for
the physically demanding role of Niedrig who had lived the life of a
junkie and petty thief before radically changing direction and training
to become one of the world’s most successful triathletes.“Max was in
superb condition and muscular in Napola, but he had to really lose
weight for this role and is now quite skinny for the scenes during
Andreas’ decline as a junkie in the Ruhr region,” explains Hohagen,
who co-wrote the screenplay with Koese.
The cast includes Jasmin Schwiers (Tattoo) as Andreas’ wife
Sabine and Uwe Ochsenknecht as his mentor and trainer, while
Axel Stein – known until now for his roles in such pratfall comedies
as Ants In The Pants – takes a distinctly new direction with a character
part as one of Andreas’ friends who pays the price for their drug
addiction.
For Koese, who came to directing via acting and screenwriting,
Ironman is his feature film debut and also marks the first production
of newly-established Neue Kinowelt Filmproduktion run by
Hermann Florin and Boris Schoenfelder. “I really like the
classic way of filmmaking and working with light,” the director says.
“I also spend a lot of time on the visual composition: before we began
shooting, I sat down with the DoP and discussed the shots to the last
detail. Everything is composed and prepared, there is no room for
improvisation.”
2 · 2007
Liebe und andere
Verbrechen
Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Drama,
Tragicomedy Production Company COIN Film/Cologne, in coproduction with Art & Popcorn/Belgrade, Amour Fou
Filmproduktion/Vienna, Studio Arkadena/Trzin With backing
from Filmstiftung NRW, BKM, Robert Bosch Stiftung, Eurimages,
City of Belgrade, Serbian Ministry of Culture, South Eastern
European Cinema Network, Vienna Film Fund, Hubert Bals Fund,
Atelier du Cinéma Européen, WDR, BMW Group Producer
Herbert Schwering Director Stefan Arsenijevic Screenplay
Stefan Arsenijevic Director of Photography Simon Tansek
Editor Andrew Bird Production Design Volker Schaefer
Principal Cast Anica Dobra, Milena Dravic, Vuk Kostic, Hanna
Schwamborn Casting Susanne Ritter Format 35 mm, color,
1:1.85, Dolby Digital Shooting Language Serbian Shooting in
Belgrade, February – March 2007 German Distributor Pandora
Film Verleih/Aschaffenburg
World Sales
The Match Factory GmbH · Michael Weber
Sudermanplatz 2 · 50670 Cologne/Germany
phone +49-2 21-2 92 10 20 · fax +49-2 21-29 21 02 10
email: info@matchfactory.de
www.the-match-factory.com
in production
37
Expectations are running high after Arsenijevic’s numerous short
films, including (A)torsion from 2003 which won the European Film
Award, a Berlin Golden Bear and a nomination for the Academy Award’s
Best Fiction Short category. “I feel quite different,” says Arsenijevic
about the transition from short to a feature-length shoot. “The whole
shooting will be as many days I had for my shorts, it feels strange and
it’s like I am running a marathon!”
Golubovic’s 2007 Berlinale film The Trap), while the part of her young
admirer Stanislav is taken by Vuk Kostic (star of Golubovic’s 2001
drama Absolute Hundred), with other roles cast with veteran Serbian
actress Milena Dravic and the young German actress Hanna
Schwamborn (Good Bye, Lenin!).
Meanwhile, the international flavor is continued behind the camera:
production designer Volker Schaefer, who, among other things, created the sets at Cologne’s MMC Studios for Amelie from Montmartre,
brought his art department team to Belgrade; Veronika Albert,
sister of filmmaker Barbara Albert, is serving as co-costume designer,
with NRW-based Georg Nonnenmacher (whose recent credits
include The Wind That Shakes The Barley and Paradise Now) as gaffer,
and Hamburg-based editor Andrew Bird (Head-On) coming to
Cologne to work on the edit over the coming months.
MB
Gabriele Sperl, Oskar Roehler
After working together on the omnibus film Lost and Found which
opened the Berlinale’s Forum section in 2005, Belgrade-born filmmaker Stefan Arsenijevic and German producer Herbert
Schwering of COIN Film have collaborated again on the young
Serbian director’s feature film debut, the tragicomedy Liebe und
andere Verbrechen (“Love and Other Crimes”) which wrapped
at the end of March. The film is the first production by Herbert
Schwering with his new company COIN Film (formerly ICON Film).
“Liebe und andere Verbrechen is about a woman who is not
satisfied with her life in contemporary Serbia and decides to steal
some money and escape from the country forever,” Arsenijevic
explains. “The film follows her over the course of this last day from
morning to evening. In the evening, she is supposed to steal the
money and leave and we see her meeting people who were part of
her life; she is now able to take some small acts of revenge and tell
them what she really thought of them, to leave some presents and
make a quiet departure from her imperfect life. But, then on that very
day – since life is not easy and simple – a boy from the neighborhood
who is more than ten years younger tells her that he is in love with
her and their relationship develops during this day. At the end of the
day, she will have to decide what she is going to do.”
“In a way, the film deals with the Serbia of today and will give us a picture of the life of the main character and the situation and feeling in
Serbia nowadays,” he continues. “It also looks at one topic which is
really important here and that is of emigration: in the last 15 years
because of the war and so on, 300,000 people left Serbia and it is
mainly young people who went. This is so present in our lives and
everyone of us knows someone who left. As a young person, you
keep asking yourself whether you should go or not. I had an urge to
deal with this issue and show how hard it is to make this decision.”
As Arsenijevic points out, it would “usually be hard to make a co-production on such a movie because it is so very much based in the
neighborhood of New Belgrade where I grew up. It is very, very local
even though there is a universal story. I see it as a very intimate film
and, in a way, it is my Amarcord.”
Nevertheless, his feature debut has been structured as a co-production between Germany, Serbia, Austria and Slovenia for the financing
of the €1.43 million budget and drew its cast and crew from the four
countries. “I shot almost all of my short films here, but I had the feeling that I lost my objective view of the space,” Arsenijevic explains.
“So, my idea was to invite the DoP (Simon Tansek from Slovenia)
and production designer (Volker Schaefer from Germany) from
outside to come and see things objectively. This really helped me
because they have a similar taste as I do and we were going through
New Belgrade together and seeing things afresh through their eyes.”
The central role of Anica who is planning to turn her back on her
homeland is played by Anica Dobra (equally familiar to audiences
in Serbia and Germany thanks to her appearances in Doris Doerrie’s
Am I Beautiful? and Enlightenment Guaranteed as well as Srdan
2 · 2007
Lulu und Jimi
Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Love Story, Music,
Road Movie, Pop Art Production Company sperl + schott
film/Munich, in cooperation with BR/Munich, WDR/Cologne,
NDR/Hamburg, ARTE/Strasbourg With backing from Filmstiftung
NRW,
Medienboard
Berlin-Brandenburg,
Mitteldeutsche
Medienfoerderung Producers Gabriela Sperl, Uwe Schott Director
Oskar Roehler Screenplay Oskar Roehler Director of
Photography Wedigo von Schultzendorff Editor Bettina Boehler
Music by Martin Todsharow Production Design Eduard Krajewski
Principal Cast Ray Fearon, Teresa Weissbach, Katrin Sass, Rolf
Zacher, Udo Kier, Bastian Pastewka, Georg Friedrich Casting Nina
Haun Casting Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby SR Shooting
Language German Shooting in Thueringer Wald, Rheinland, July –
September 2007 German Distributor X Verleih/Berlin
World Sales
Beta Cinema / Dept. of Beta Film GmbH
Andreas Rothbauer
Gruenwalder Weg 28 d · 82041 Oberhaching/Germany
phone +49-89-67 34 69 80 · fax +49-89-6 73 46 98 88
www.betacinema.com
Oskar Roehler’s next film Lulu und Jimi will be the first feature
project coming from the new company sperl + schott film set up
last year by Bavarian Television’s former TV drama chief Gabriela
Sperl and producer Uwe Schott, formerly managing director of
Allmedia Pictures.
in production
38
“The idea for Lulu und Jimi comes from Oskar Roehler,” Sperl
stresses, pointing out that she is “particularly keen in this film to look
beyond the level of the Romeo and Juliet story and portray a
Germany of racial prejudice and narrow-mindedness in the 1950s. At
the center is a family of the Economic Miracle, which rejects everything that doesn’t fit in with its view on life. I think you will find that
one can see several levels to this film. It is a typical ‘Oskar Roehler
story’, he is really in his element with this family story which has that
cruel twist which is so ‘Oskar’, but it is also a modern fairytale with a
rock’n’roll pop art world, wild and full of color.”
“It is the story of an impossible love affair,” she continues, “and of a
conflict between a mother and daughter: the mother sees that her
former beauty is slipping away and begrudges her daughter any happiness of her own.”
While recent period pieces in German cinema have concentrated on
the years in the nation’s history between 1933 and 1945, Sperl believes that “a lot of films will start coming through in the future about
the 50s because it shows us how Germany was reconstructed on a
Nazi past that was not reflected upon, a fact which led to the student
uprisings in the 60s and ultimately to the terrorism of the RAF. I think
it is an extremely exciting and fascinating time – I am myself working
on a screenplay set in the 50s – because there was so much suppressed.”
While an eclectic cast has been brought together for the film with the
likes of Katrin Sass, Udo Kier, Rolf Zacher, Bastian
Pastewka and Georg Friedrich, casting of the two lovers
fighting against all odds has been particularly imaginative.
The role of Lulu will be taken by the young German actress Teresa
Weissbach who made her film debut at the age of 17 in a headturning performance in Leander Haussmann’s comedy Sun Alley
(Sonnenallee) and followed this up with a role in Catharina Deus’
acclaimed film About a Girl (Die Boxerin).
Meanwhile, Jimi will be played by the Royal Shakespeare Company
actor Ray Fearon who, in addition to his stage work, also appeared in the British soap opera Coronation Street and Harry Potter and the
Philosopher’s Stone and was a contestant on the BBC’s Saturday night
show Strictly Come Dancing.
The project, which is scheduled to shoot in the Thuringian Forest and
North Rhine-Westphalia from July, and will be released in Germany
by X Verleih.
According to Sperl, she is currently in negotiations with English and
French production partners to possibly come onboard the project as
co-producers.
MB
2 · 2007
Christoph Kottenkamp, Jan Henrik Stahlberg,
Marcus Mittermeier
(photo © Bavaria Pictures/Stefan Falke)
However, Roehler and Sperl are not strangers to one another: during
her time at the TV drama department in Munich, Sperl had been the
commissioning editor for Angst (Der alte Affe Angst) and collaborated
with him on the screenplay for Agnes and his brothers (Agnes und seine
Brueder).
Short Cut to Hollywood
Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Road Movie,
Tragicomedy, Black Comedy Production Companies Schiwago
Film/Berlin, Bavaria Pictures/Geiselgasteig, Muxfilm/Pentling, Bavaria
Film/Geiselgasteig, in co-production with Capture Film International/Los Angeles, Artdeluxe/Vienna With backing from
Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA),
BKM, German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), Kuratorium junger deutscher Film Producers Marcos Kantis, Marcus Mittermeier, Jan
Henrik Stahlberg, Philipp Kreuzer, Dr. Matthias Esche CoProducers Andrea Balen, Corina Danckwerts, Robert Hofferer
Directors Marcus Mittermeier, Jan Henrik Stahlberg Screenplay
Jan Henrik Stahlberg Director of Photography David Hofmann
Editors Sarah Clara Weber, Stine Munch Music by Rainer Oleak
Production Design Peter Naguib Principal Cast Jan Henrik
Stahlberg, Marcus Mittermeier, Christoph Kottenkamp, Marta
McGonagle, Henning Gruebel Casting Astrid Rosenfeld Format
HDV, transfer to 35 mm, color, 1:1.78, Dolby Shooting
Language German Shooting in New York, Emporia, Lynchburg,
Orlando, Miami, Albuquerque, Flagstaff, Las Vegas, Los Angeles,
Berlin, February – April 2007 German Distributor Senator Film
Verleih/Berlin
World Sales
Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH · Thorsten Schaumann
phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20
After Quiet as a Mouse, which was shown in the 2004 Berlinale’s
Perspectives German Cinema section after winning the Max Ophuels
Award, Short Cut to Hollywood is the second collaboration
between Marcus Mittermeier and Jan Henrik Stahlberg.
The duo co-directs and appears in front of the camera, and Stahlberg
is also serving as screenwriter.
According to one of the film’s producers, Philipp Kreuzer of
Bavaria Pictures, Short Cut to Hollywood “is a combination of a road movie, black comedy and media satire and has the
same kind of approach to the screenplay and concept that the duo
Stahlberg/Mittermeier had followed successfully in Quiet as a Mouse.
They have a screenplay, but efficiently use the room for creativity and
improvisation.”
in production
39
Director Maggie Peren with her male cast
(photo © Clausen+Woebke+Putz Film)
He explains that the new project is “also a ‘film within a film’: the
three friends from Germany embark to the USA, the paradise of fame
and fortune. The plan is to turn one of them into a media star named
John F. Salinger [played by Stahlberg], by shooting his first, unforgettable and, in many ways, exceptional movie. But the price for eternal
fame is high. John F. Salinger is willing to give everything for it and that
can be a lot …”
“In contrast to Quiet as a Mouse, Short Cut to Hollywood is a
very emotional story,” Mittermeier and Stahlberg suggest. “John F.
Salinger is looking for the purpose of his life. Our 35-year-old hero
hasn’t really achieved anything and is longing for ‘true’ meaning and
love. John F. Salinger is a tragic hero and evolves, despite the humor
and absurdity, into a living legend within the story of the film.”
Turning to the issue of media satire addressed in their film, the directorial duo point out that “the world is constantly looking for a new
superstar, the next hot thing. Who hasn’t had the dream of fame and
success? The dream of a life with glory, screaming groupies, money,
stardom and the feeling of being loved for your exceptional nature. If
you thought talent separates the wheat from the chaff, think again!
Today, anybody can be a superstar as long as the media pay attention.”
“If it’s true that success comes from breaking limits, we are not far off
from our hero’s story,” they continue. “Whether it approves or not,
the theater audience has to admit that John F. Salinger is right about
the world we live in. The recipe for great success is breaking great
taboos.”
Mittermeier and Stahlberg describe their film as “a ride on the razor
blade because our heroes are unpredictable. Every time you think you
know what to feel about them, the pendulum swings into the opposite direction. At times, you will be with them, laugh at them or
scorn them. Nevertheless, deep inside you understand and sympathize with them. Once more, we will break conventions and go past
limits.”
Kreuzer admits that it has been a “big challenge to make a road movie
like this for a modest budget”, but “looking at the rushes, one can see
that the team has really captured the American look with many extraordinary locations to render lots of production value. Audiences will
see locations throughout the US they know well including New York,
Florida, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. Especially the ones in Arizona and
New Mexico remind you of films like Easy Rider.”
Marcos Kantis, producer at Schiwago Film, which also produced
Quiet as a Mouse and is now working with Stahlberg for the third time,
underlines thanks to the support of Capture Film, “we managed to
produce the film with a value which multiplies its low budget many
times over.” He adds that for future projects, there might be a similar
co-production set-up.
Produced by Schiwago Film, Muxfilm, Bavaria Pictures and
Bavaria Film with Capture Film International and
Artdeluxe as co-producers, Short Cut to Hollywood is the
first project with a foreign shoot to benefit from the recently
established German Federal Film Fund (DFFF). It will be distributed
theatrically in Germany by Senator Film and handled internationally by
Bavaria Film International.
MB
2 · 2007
Stellungswechsel
Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Social Comedy
Production Company Claussen+Woebke+Putz Film/Munich, in
co-production with ZDF/Mainz, in cooperation with ARTE/
Strasbourg With backing from German Federal Film Fund
(DFFF), Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), FilmFernsehFonds Bayern,
MEDIA Producers Jakob Claussen, Uli Putz, Thomas Woebke
Director Maggie Peren Screenplay Maggie Peren, Christian Bayer
Director of Photography Christian Rein Editor Peter
Kirschbaum Music by Superstrings (Caro Heiss, Marc Sidney
Mueller) Production Design Heike Lange Principal Cast
Florian Lukas, Sebastian Bezzel, Gustav P. Woehler, Kostja Ullmann,
Herbert Knaup, Lisa Maria Potthoff, Nina Kronjaeger, Ulrike Kriener,
Diana Staehly Casting An Dorthe Braker Format 35 mm, color,
1:1.85, Dolby Surround
Shooting Language German
Shooting in Munich, January – February 2007 German
Distributor 20th Century Fox (Germany)/Frankfurt
World Sales
phone +49-89-55 87 60 · fax +49-89-55 87 62 29
What do five (male) losers do when life has dealt them too many
lemons? Well, in the case of Frank (Doctor of Philology and househusband), Gy (police officer locked in an eternal struggle with his
health insurance company), Olli (delicatessen owner, no customers),
Giselher (unemployed and most likely to stay that way) and Lasse (the
living definition of a non-starter) the answer is … No, NOT make
lemonade! But rather start an escort agency for women, offering
“German gourmet food to get your hands on!”
Although the German language does not lend itself to the same level
of punning and wordplaying that English does, the word
‘Stellungswechsel’ means to change one’s position, as in getting a
different job, as well as, quite literally, shifting your body posture. It
also applies in a sexual context …
With wordplays and situational comedy to the fore, writer-director
Maggie Peren again proves she is one of the most versatile hyphenates working in contemporary German cinema.
“The idea came from my co-author, Christian Bayer,” says Peren,
“and I found it very sweet. It was intensive work because they are
in production
40
offering to sleep with women via the Internet, so the characters needed to stay sympathetic. It’s a social comedy, after all.”
“The main character, Frank, is very similar to Christian,” Peren continues, “while the girls are based on women I’ve met. We did a lot of
research and wrote over sixteen drafts. I have to say, comedy can be
a real nightmare!”
Then she confesses she’s working on, yes, another comedy, Bloody
Germans, about the 1996 World Cup in which England was knocked
out by Germany in the semi-finals, on penalties! And an England fan is
forced to admit he’s the father of a German child!
Peren’s many credits include Vergiss Amerika (1999), the multi-Grimme
Award winning TV movie Das Phantom (1999) and the smash hit
comedy Girls on Top (2001). She then turned her talents to the Third
Reich with Napola (2004) and co-authored (with Stefan Schaller)
Detlev Buck’s latest film Haende weg von Mississippi.
As befits an ensemble film, Stellungswechsel has assembled
some top notch Teutonic thesps. Florian Lukas (Frank) won Best
Supporting Actor in the 2003 German Film Awards for Good Bye,
Lenin!. Sebastian Bezzel (Gy) is one of Germany’s best known
TV cops. Gustav Woehler, when not singing with his band, has
featured in, among many, Doris Doerrie’s Der Fischer und seine Frau
and Sven Unterwaldt’s 7 Zwerge comedies. Herbert Knaup
(Giselher) was in the OSCAR-winning Das Leben der Anderen while
Kostja Ullmann (Lasse) starred in Verfolgt, which won a Golden
Leopard at Locarno in 2006.
H. Jaenicke, M. Brandt, J.-G. Kremp, B. Auer
(photo © Nicolas Maack)
Claussen+Woebke+Putz Filmproduktion can claim the
credit for many a critical and audience hit. To name just a few: the
horror films Anatomie and Anatomie 2, the OSCAR-nominated Jenseits
der Stille, Crazy, 23 and Lichter.
SK
Jan-Gregor Kremp Casting Gitta Uhlig Format 16 mm, color,
Stereo Shooting Language German Shooting in Hamburg and
surroundings, February – March 2007
Contact
mementoFilm GmbH · Andrea Guenther
Leibniz Strasse 33 · 10625 Berlin/Germany
phone +49-30-43 72 79 10 · fax +49-30-43 72 79 19
email: a.guenther@mementofilm.de
www.mementofilm.de
Spare a thought for what has to be one of the hardest genres of them
all, the romantic comedy, or romcom as it is affectionately known.
Now, factor in this is a German romcom and, be honest now, you’re
most likely playing the word association game: which is to say the two
words you least associate with Germany are comedy and romantic!
Well … you lose! Because, contrary to popular belief, there is a very
strong and developed German romcom tradition that, for business
and structural reasons, exists primarily on TV.
Long introduction to one side, Vier sind einer zuviel (translation: “Four is One Too Many”) takes the traditional ingredients (men
and a woman) and serves up a helping of bittersweet romantic comedy in which melancholy and slapstick harmonize in a swirl of delicious
delight.
Lisa (Barbara Auer) discovers on her wedding anniversary that
husband Felix (Matthias Brandt) makes her really unhappy, and
vice versa. She packs her bags and takes up residence in a shabby
hotel to get her thoughts together, with little success. Felix, meanwhile, makes the transition from househusband to homeless. Lisa then
lands in a shared apartment with Chris (Hannes Jaenicke) and
Edgar (Jan-Gregor Kremp), two not-quite-over-the-hill ladies’
men. Separate soon become shared beds. Life is great, until the police deliver a handcuffed Felix to her door. Now four really are one
too many!
Production company mementoFilm was founded in Cologne in
2001, with the Berlin subsidiary opening its doors in 2005. With an
impressive number of films, for the big as well as small screen, already under the belt, company credits include the 2002 Das Jahr der
ersten Kuesse and the TV movie Der Anwalt und sein Gast (2002),
which won a slew of awards including the Nymphe D’Or at the 43rd
Monte Carlo Television Festival 2002 for Best Actor (Goetz George)
and director Torsten C. Fischer took the 2003 German Television
Award for Best Director. On Vier sind einer zuviel Fischer again
occupies the director’s chair and is working again with Barbara Auer
who also starred in his feature film Liebeswunsch.
SK
Vier sind einer zuviel
Type of Project TV Movie Genre Romantic Comedy
Production Company mementoFilm/Berlin, in co-production
with NDR/Hamburg Producers Markus Gruber, Doris J. Heinze
Director Torsten C. Fischer Screenplay Hans G. Raeth, Sathyan
Ramesh Director of Photography Achim Poulheim Editor
Benjamin Hembus Production Design Martin Schreiber
Principal Cast Barbara Auer, Matthias Brandt, Hannes Jaenicke,
2 · 2007
in production
41
Am Ende kommen Touristen
Ryszard Ronczewski, Alexander Fehling (photo © Gerald von Foris)
AND ALONG COME TOURISTS
Auschwitz wasn’t what Sven, a young German, had in
mind when he signed up to do his civil service abroad. For
him, Auschwitz is a small town in Poland, a strange language, a concentration camp, all the musty grayness of highschool German history classes. To make matters worse,
he’s got to care for an unpleasant old man, Stanislaw
Krzemińki, a former inmate who never left the camp and
now spends his time either giving contemporary-witness
lectures or repairing suitcases. Krzemińki’s world revolves
around the suitcases taken from the Jews as they arrived
at the concentration camp from all over Europe. Besides
having to endure Krzemińki’s haughty, gruff manner, Sven
also has to put up with the barely concealed contempt of
various locals. Luckily, there’s Ania, a young guide who
lets Sven stay at her place … As the weeks go by, Sven
begins to discover both Auschwitz and Oświecim, the
place of horror and the Polish town, the memorial to inhumanity and the tourist industry that has sprung up around
it. Yet within this push and pull of conflicting sensations
grow love for Ania, compassion for Krzemińki, and the
troubling, challenging realization about his own role in preserving the memory of this place …
Genre Drama Category Feature Film Cinema Year of
Production 2007 Director Robert Thalheim Screenplay
Robert Thalheim Director of Photography Yoliswa Gaertig
Editor Stefan Kobe Music by Anton Feist, Uwe Bossenz
Production Design Michal Galinski, Rita-Maria Hallekamp
Producers
Britta
Knoeller,
Hans-Christian
Schmid
Commissioning Editor Christian Cloos Production
Company 23|5 Filmproduktion/Berlin, in co-production with
ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel/Mainz, in cooperation with Pictorion
Pictures/Huerth Principal Cast Alexander Fehling, Ryszard
Ronczewski, Barbara Wysocka, Piotr Rogucki, Rainer Sellien, Lena
Stolze, Lutz Blochberger, Adam Nawojczyk, Roman Gancarczyk,
Willy Rachow, Halina Kwiatkowska, Joachim Laetsch Casting
Simone Baer, Magda Szwarcbart Length 85 min, 2,400 m
Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German/
Polish/English Subtitled Versions English, French Sound
Technology Dolby Digital Festival Screenings Cannes 2007
(Un Certain Regard) With backing from Medienboard BerlinBrandenburg, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), BKM German
Distributor X Verleih/Berlin
Robert Thalheim was born in Berlin in 1974. After completing
his schooling in the USA and Germany, he worked as an assistant
director for the Berlin Ensemble theater and took up studies at the
Free University and the “Konrad Wolf ” Academy of Film and
Television. Also a writer and a publisher, his films include: Um vier
Uhr ploetzlich ging die Welt unter (documentary, 1996),
Zeit ist Leben (short, 2000), Granica (short, 2002), Three
Percent (short, 2002), Ich (short, 2003), his feature debut
Netto (2004), and And Along Come Tourists (Am Ende
kommen Touristen, 2007).
World Sales
Bavaria Film International · Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH · Thorsten Schaumann
phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20
email: international@bavaria-film.de · www.bavaria-film-international.com
2 · 2007
new german films
42
Die Anruferin
Valerie Koch (photo © Wueste Film West/Thekla Ehling)
THE CALLING GAME
“Please, can you tell me another story? No, not a bedtime
story. A really exciting one …,” the voice of a lonely child
begs somebody on the telephone. Craving for warmth and
compassion, it is Irm, a woman in her early 30s. She calls
strangers and, imitating a child’s voice, pretends she is a
young cancer patient. In heart-rending conversations, she
establishes relationships that she abruptly ends when they
threaten to become too close. This is Irm’s way of reaching
out from her life, a life in which she jobs in a laundrette
and looks after her bed-ridden mother. Though no longer
able to talk, her mother still makes it clear that her favorite was always Irm’s sister Margit. But now Irm has the
upper hand and lets her know it.
When she meets the self-assured but emotionally vulnerable Sina, she comes up against a woman who is in great
need of a friend and thinks she’s found her in Irm. Caught
between the pull of her mother’s imminent death and her
manipulative play-acting, Irm is increasingly drawn to the
strong, life-loving woman who offers her friendship. She
knows that Sina must learn the truth some day and is
afraid of losing her. But Sina is more tenacious than she
thinks – and believes in Irm more than she does herself …
Production 2007 Director Felix Randau Screenplay Vera
Kissel Director of Photography Jutta Pohlmann Editor
Gergana Voigt Music by Thies Mynther Production Design
Peter Menne Producers Ralph Schwingel, Stefan Schubert, Hejo
Emons Associate Producer Bjoern Vosgerau Commissioning Editors Lucas Schmidt, Barbara Haebe Production
Company Wueste Film West/Cologne, in co-production with
ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel/Mainz, in cooperation with ARTE/
Strasbourg Principal Cast Valerie Koch, Esther Schweins,
Franziska Ponitz Casting Deborah Congia Length 80 min, 2,189
m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German
Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby SR
With backing from Filmstiftung NRW, Nordmedia
Felix Randau was born in 1974 in Emden. After studies in
German Literature and Ethnology in Bonn, he enrolled in the
Directing program at the German Academy of Film & Television
(dffb) in Berlin. His films include: Ritual and Something
Happened to Me Yesterday (shorts, 1996), Matadore and
Boomtown Berlin (shorts, 1997), Something Stupid
(short, 1998), Siemensstadt (short, 2000), Northern Star
(2003), and The Calling Game (Die Anruferin, 2007).
The Calling Game is director Felix Randau’s second
feature after his 2003 film Northern Star, which also won
him the Studio Hamburg Newcomer Award for Best Script.
World Sales
phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20
2 · 2007
new german films
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Auf der anderen Seite
Scene from “The Edge of Heaven” (photo © corazón international)
THE EDGE OF HEAVEN
Nejat seems disapproving about his widower father Ali’s
choice of prostitute Yeter for a live-in girlfriend. But he
grows fond of her when he discovers she sends money
home to Turkey for her daughter’s university studies.
Yeter’s sudden death distances father and son. Nejat
travels to Istanbul to search for Yeter’s daughter Ayten.
Political activist Ayten has fled the Turkish police and is
already in Germany. She is befriended by a young woman,
Lotte, who invites rebellious Ayten to stay in her home, a
gesture not particularly pleasing to her conservative
mother Susanne. When Ayten is arrested and her asylum
plea is denied, she is deported and imprisoned in Turkey.
Lotte travels to Turkey, where she gets caught up in the
seemingly hopeless situation of freeing Ayten …
Production 2007 Director Fatih Akin Screenplay Fatih Akin
Director of Photography Rainer Klausmann Editor Andrew
Bird Music by Stefan “Shantel” Hantel Production Design
Tamo Kunz, Sirma Bradley Producers Fatih Akin, Andreas Thiel,
Klaus Maeck Production Company corazón international/
Hamburg, in co-production with NDR/Hamburg, Anka Film/
Istanbul, Dorje Film/Rome Principal Cast Baki Davrak, Patrycia
Ziolkowska, Nurcel Koese, Hanna Schygulla, Tuncel Kurtiz, Nurguel
Yesilcay Casting Monique Akin Length 122 min, 3,312 m
Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version
German/Turkish/English Subtitled Version English Sound
Technology Dolby Digital Surround Ex Festival Screenings
Cannes 2007 (In Competition) With backing from
Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), BKM, FilmFoerderung Hamburg,
Filmstiftung NRW, Nordmedia, Kulturelle Filmfoerderung
Schleswig-Holstein German Distributor Pandora Film Verleih/
Aschaffenburg
Fatih Akin was born in 1973 in Hamburg and began studying
Visual Communications at Hamburg’s College of Fine Arts in 1994.
In 1995, he wrote and directed his first short feature, Sensin –
You’re The One! (Sensin – Du bist es!), which received the
Audience Award at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival, followed by Weed (Getuerkt, 1996). His first full-length feature
film, Short Sharp Shock (Kurz und schmerzlos, 1998),
won the Bronze Leopard at Locarno and the Bavarian Film Award
(Best Young Director) in 1998. His other films include: In July (Im
Juli, 2000), Wir haben vergessen zurueckzukehren
(2001), Solino (2002), the Berlinale Golden Bear-winner and winner of the German and European Film Awards Head-On (Gegen
die Wand, 2003), Crossing the Bridge – The Sound of
Istanbul (2005), and The Edge of Heaven (Auf der
anderen Seite, 2007).
World Sales
The Match Factory GmbH · Michael Weber
Sudermanplatz 2 · 50670 Cologne/Germany
phone +49-2 21-2 92 10 20 · fax +49-2 21-29 21 02 10
email: michael.weber@matchfactory.de · www.the-match-factory.com
2 · 2007
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Autopiloten
Scene from "Autopilots" (photo © LICHTBLICK/Alex Trebus)
AUTOPILOTS
Autopilots tells the story of four people trying to live up
to their lost ideals in interwoven episodes. Each of them
has become a social outcast. Lacking a foothold, they
erratically move through their own lives. During 24 hours
these characters’ paths cross on the freeways of the Ruhr
Area.
Georg, trainer of a soccer league team, must win the game
tonight if he wants to keep his job. He discovers how the
mechanisms of the soccer trade have begun to turn against
him. Dieter, freelance reporter is on the pursuit of spectacular images. He loves his son, who lives with his ex-wife
Rita, but does not devote much attention to him. Joerg, a
salesman for bathtub lifts finds himself drifting off into isolation and discovers he cannot go on with his double life.
Heinz, an aging pop singer spends his days singing at
anniversary celebrations for shopping malls and the like.
And he can’t keep up the illusion anymore.
They are all heroes of an inner insecurity, who are just trying to hang in there …
Production 2007 Director Bastian Guenther Screenplay
Bastian Guenther Director of Photography Michael Kotschi
Editor Olaf Tischbier Music by Bernd Begemann, Andreas
Doerne, Jens Hafemann Production Design Dorothee von
Bodelschwingh Producers Joachim Ortmanns, Martin Heisler
Production Company Lichtblick Film/Cologne, in co-production with SWR/Baden-Baden, ARTE/Strasbourg Principal Cast
Charly Huebner, Wolfram Koch, Walter Kreye, Manfred Zapatka,
Susanne-Marie Wrage Casting Kathrin Bessert Length 106 min
Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German
Festival Screenings Berlin 2007 (Perspectives German
Cinema) With backing from Filmstiftung NRW
Bastian Guenther was born in 1974 in Hachenburg and studied English, Social Sciences and Sports at Cologne University. He
then worked as a trainee on several film productions and as a freelancer at the public broadcaster WDR/Phoenix in Cologne.
Followed by working as an assistant director for Marin
Martschewski and Christian Petzold, he enrolled at the German
Academy of Film & Television Berlin (dffb). His graduation film
Ende einer Strecke won the First Steps Award in 2006. His other
films include: Kuscheln in Vingst (documentary, 2000),
Corinna, Corinna (short, 2001), Punkt Null (video, 2002),
Acapulco (short, 2003), Bleib zuhause im Sommer (documentary, 2003), and Autopilots (Autopiloten, 2007).
World Sales (please contact)
Lichtblick Film- & Fernsehproduktion GmbH · Yvonne Gottschalk
Apostelnstrasse 11 · 50667 Cologne/Germany
phone +49-2 21-9 25 75 20 · fax +49-2 21-9 25 75 29
email: info@lichtblick-film.de · www.lichtblick-film.de
2 · 2007
new german films
45
Scenes from “[desi’re:] – The Goldstein Reels”
(photos courtesy of felderfilm)
[desi’re:] – The Goldstein Reels
Mysterious find. A naked woman disappears during the
ongoing film shootings. Presumably the film belongs to the
estate of the American film artist Jack Goldstein.
Genre Art, Drama, Experimental, Fantasy, Thriller Category
Semi Fictional Documentary Year of Production 2006
Director Romeo Gruenfelder Producer Romeo Gruenfelder
Production Company felderfilm/Hamburg, in co-production
with Peter Stockhaus Film/Hamburg Length 4 min, 90 m
Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.37 Original Version German
Dubbed Version English Subtitled Version English Sound
Technology Mono Festival Screenings Stuttgart Filmwinter
2006, Bamberg 2006, Rotterdam 2006, Navarra 2006, Nice 2006,
IndieLisboa 2006, European Media Arts Festival Osnabrueck 2006,
Interval 2006, VideoEx Zurich 2006, Hamburg 2006, Corta! Porto
2006, Impakt Festival Utrecht 2006, Transilvania Cluj Napoca 2006,
Sao Paulo 2006, Milan 2006, PureScreen Manchester 2006,
BunterHund Munich 2006, Shortfilm Slam Hamburg 2006,
Contravision Berlin 2006, Winterthur 2006, Exground Wiesbaden
2006, Leipzig 2006, Backup Weimar 2006, Lausanne Underground
2006, Short Cuts Cologne 2006, Video_Dumbo New York 2006,
One Take Zagreb 2006, Zwergwerk Oldenburg 2006, Wuerzburg
2007, Augsburg 2007, Cine de reel Paris 2007 Awards 2nd Jury
Award Zurich 2006, 2nd Jury Award Bamberg 2006, Special Mention
Porto 2006 With backing from FilmFoerderung Hamburg,
FO’KO Hamburg
Romeo Gruenfelder was born in 1968 and studied Visual
Communication, Philosophy and Classical Music at the Hamburg
Hochschule fuer bildende Kuenste from 1995-2001. In 2001, he
founded felderfilm (www.felderfilm.de). His films include: Jimmy
Jenseits (1993), Sorgenbrecher (1995), Himmel ueber
Freiburg (1995), Der blonde Engel (1996), Shahrzadeh
Scampolo (1996), ohne Titel (2000), Borderline Pilots
(2002), Rallye 35 mm (2004), 4 kurzeDialoge (2005), and
[desi’re:] – The Goldstein Reels (2006).
felderfilm · Romeo Gruenfelder
Marthastrasse 31 · 20259 Hamburg/Germany
phone/fax +49-40-3 89 28 68
email: info@felderfilm.de · www.felderfilm.de
2 · 2007
new german films
46
Dos Patrias Cuba y la noche
Scene from “Two Homelands Cuba and the Night” (photo © Christian Liffers)
TWO HOMELANDS CUBA AND THE NIGHT
A film about the discovery of poetry and love in a system
of oppression and discrimination.
The director Christian Liffers travels with his team to Cuba
to search for evidence. Part of his luggage are poems and
prose texts of the Cuban author Reinaldo Arenas. Texts,
which describe the desire for love, sexual freedom and the
proud and unbending attitude in the fight against discrimination. Are these desires and attitudes still to be found
in Cuba? And which desires, clichés, and projections of
Cuba attract the producer and many more people? Poems
and prose texts are the reference points for the protagonists and their personal stories of present-day Cuba, which
are always the center of attention. Six men with different
backgrounds and of different ages describe their life,
afflictions, desires, longings and joys in Cuba. They have
some things in common: homosexuality (with the exception of Isabel, the transsexual) and the daily social
exclusion on the part of the Cuban “Machismo-society”
and the Cuban government. However they differ heavily
concerning their social status and their opinions of the
topic.
The author made two journeys of investigation to Havana,
where he won the confidence of the protagonists, so that
for the first time people spoke openly in front of a
camera about their homosexuality and life in Cuba.
Christian Liffers
Seerobenstrasse 30 · 65195 Wiesbaden/Germany
phone +49-1 71-8 30 23 36
email: christianliffers@web.de · www.dospatrias.com
2 · 2007
Genre Education, Gay & Lesbian, Literature Category
Documentary Cinema Year of Production 2006 Director
Christian Liffers Screenplay Christian Liffers Director of
Photography Mirko Schernickau Editor Todd P. Mercuri
Music by Michael Espinosa Rodríguez, Los Transes Producer
Christian Liffers Production Company Christian Liffers/
Wiesbaden Length 84 min Format DV Cam, color, 16:9
Original Version Spanish Subtitled Versions English,
German Voice Over German Sound Technology Stereo
Festival Screenings Miami 2007 (In Competition), San Diego
Latino Film Festival 2007, Montevideo 2007 (In Competition),
European Independent Film Festival Paris 2007, London Lesbian and
Gay Festival 2007, Santa Cruz 2007 (In Competition), Las Americas
Latino Film Festival 2007 (In Competition), Nicosia 2007 (In
Competition), Festival de Cine Pobre 2007, Denver XicanIndie
Filmfest 2007 (In Competition), Da Sodoma a Hollywood Turin
2007 (In Competition), MediaWave Gyoer 2007 (In Competition),
NOPOP Aarhus 2007 (In Competition), Hollanda Latin American
Film Festival 2007 (In Competition), ECO Rhodos 2007 (In
Competition), Inside Out Toronto 2007
Christian Liffers studied Theater Direction in Hamburg and
worked for several years in German theaters and as an assistant
director for Werner Schroeter. Active as a writer, director and producer, he has been working as a journalist for the last 10 years and
for the German broadcaster ZDF. In addition to numerous theater
works, his films include the documentaries: Suicide
Commando, Diary of a Suicide (2001) and Dos Patrias,
Cuba y la noche (2006).
new german films
47
Der Goldene Nazivampir von Absam 2 – Das Geheimnis von Schloss Kottlitz
Scene from “The Golden Nazi Vampire of Absam Part 2”
(photo © Chris Hirschhaeuser)
THE GOLDEN NAZI VAMPIRE OF ABSAM PART II – THE SECRET OF KOTTLITZ CASTLE
If things were up to General Donovan, then the Military
Secret Service of the United States would take care of really important things, of which there are plenty in this
Autumn of 1942. Let the Waffen-SS search for Atlantis
and dance around Germanic Druid Stones – who believes
in the occult of “Wunderwaffen” or “miracle weapons”
anyway? At least no straightforward American patriot,
only pathetic wimps like William Blazkowicz, the only person at the OSS who wears glasses. But then … can you
dare risk to ignore explicit warnings? Secretly shot films?
Evidence?
What is really happening in Kottlitz Castle? Who killed
Smokey Savallas? What kind of research is the “Ahnenerbe
der SS” involved in? Who stole Count Dracula’s bones
from a crypt in Wallachia? And where’s the connection
between a fanatic SS General, underground laboratories
full of German scientists, and a huge pit filled with molten
gold?
Questions, questions … and of all people William
Blazkowicz is being smuggled into the Austrian Alps to
find answers. But no one could ever imagine in the wildest
of dreams what Blazkowicz is going to unearth at Kottlitz
Castle …
Genre Comedy, Horror, Trash Category Short Year of
Production 2007 Director Lasse Nolte Screenplay Lasse
Nolte Director of Photography David Emmenlauer Editor
Lasse Nolte Music by Tuomas Kantelinen Production Design
Tobias Maier, Oliver Hoese Producers Martin Blankemeyer,
Cornel Schaefer, Robin Schaefer, Christl Catanzaro, Damien
Donnelly, Mike Dehghan, Daniel Nadj Production Company
Muenchner Filmwerkstatt/Munich, in co-production with Creative
Gap Filmproduktion/Munich, Hochschule fuer Fernsehen und Film
Muenchen (HFF/M)/Munich Principal Cast Daniel Krauss,
Goetz Burger, Hendrik Martz, Walter Stapper, Kim Baermann,
Oliver Kalkofe Special Effects Sascha Kolmikow Length 46
min, 1,330 m Format HD Blow-up 35 mm, color, 1:1.78
Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound
Technology Surround
Lasse Nolte was born 1980 in Goettingen and is currently
studying Directing at the Munich Academy of Television & Film. A
selection of his films includes: Der Sensenmann (1996), Ein
Fehler (2001), Massaker (2002), Nachtfahrt (2002), Chris
und Henning (2002), Ein besonderer Abend (2003), an
image film for the company Knorr-Bremse (2005), and The
Golden Nazi Vampire of Absam Part II – The Secret
of Kottlitz Castle (Der Goldene Nazivampir von
Absam 2 – Das Geheimnis von Schloss Kottlitz, 2007).
Muenchner Filmwerkstatt e.V. · Martin Blankemeyer
Postfach 860 525 · 81632 Munich/Germany
phone +49-89-20 33 37 12 · fax +49-7 21-1 51 37 76 29
email: info@muenchner-filmwerkstatt.de · www.muenchner-filmwerkstatt.de
2 · 2007
new german films
48
Halbe Stunden
Scene from “Half Hours” (photo © dffb/Jost Hering Filme)
HALF HOURS
Melanie Straub lives aimlessly into the day, or more
accurately: into a Saturday. She’s alone at home, surrounded by the emptiness of her new life.
Genre Fiction Category Short Year of Production 2007
Director Nicolas Wackerbarth Screenplay Nicolas
Wackerbarth Director of Photography Reinhold
Vorschneider Editor Janina Herrhofer Music by Anton WebernPassacaglia Production Design Eric Segoll Producers
Hartmut Bitomsky, Jost Hering Executive Producers Oliver
Fleischmann, Ursula Mueller Production Company Deutsche
Film- und Fernsehakademie (dffb)/Berlin, in co-production with Jost
Hering Filme/Berlin Principal Cast Cristin Koenig, Joanna
Czerwìnska, Abel vom Acker Casting Ulrike Mueller Length 20
min, 560 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version
German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology
Dolby SR Festival Screenings Cannes 2007 (Cinéfondation),
Oberhausen 2007 (In Competition) With backing from
Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA)
Nicolas Wackerbarth was born in 1973 in Munich and studied
Acting at the Bavarian Theater Academy, followed by acting engagements at theaters in Frankfurt and Cologne. Since 2000, he has
been studying at the German Academy of Film & Television Berlin
(dffb) and is an editor of the film magazine Revolver. A selection of
his films includes: Brat (short, 2000), Lovesick (short, 2003),
Anfaenger! (TV, 2004), Westernstadt (documentary, 2005),
and Half Hours (Halbe Stunden, short, 2007).
Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin GmbH (dffb) · Jana Wolff
Potsdamer Strasse 2 · 10785 Berlin/Germany
phone +49-30-25 75 91 52 · fax +49-30-25 75 91 62
email: wolff@dffb.de · www.dffb.de
2 · 2007
new german films
49
Das Haus der schlafenden Schoenen
Scene from “House of Sleeping Beauties” (photo © Atossa Film)
HOUSE OF THE SLEEPING BEAUTIES
Edmond, a man in his late 60s, visits a mysterious
“maison”, a kind of a brothel specialized for customers
beyond their 80s. In this “establishment” it is possible for
these old men to spend time in bed with beautiful,
sleeping girls the whole night through. The girls won’t
awake, they are drugged; the older men feel warm and
comfortable, embracing the youth and the beauty of these
young women.
More and more, Edmond surrenders to this unconscious
seduction, juvenile virginity and unpredictable sensuality.
In confrontation to his age, bedazzled by the breath, scent
and innocent warmth of the young women, he glides into
associations and memories of his past life. Bizarre
moments become the inspiration and urge to simply fade
away next to a girl.
But one day, Edmond observes the Madame supervising a
corpse being packed in a bag, thrown into a car and secretly
taken away. Nevertheless, Edmond returns more and
more often to “The House of the Sleeping Beauties”, considering questions of morality and limits. Where reality
doesn’t seem to exist, it doesn’t take long until it sends –
with fatal complications – the dreams of the old men to
an end.
Genre Drama, Literature Category Feature Film Cinema Year
of Production 2006 Director Vadim Glowna Screenplay
Vadim Glowna Director of Photography Ciro Cappellari
Editor Charlie Lézin Music by Nick Glowna, Siggi Mueller
Production Design Peter Weber Producers Raymond
Tarabay, Vadim Glowna Production Company Atossa
Film/Berlin Principal Cast Vadim Glowna, Angela Winkler,
Maximilian Schell, Birol Uenel Casting Julia Dierks Special
Effects Sven Hanten Length 103 min, 2,824 m Format 35 mm,
color, cs Original Version German Subtitled Versions
English, French Sound Technology Dolby Digital Festival
Screenings Belgrade 2007 With backing from Filmstiftung
NRW German Distributor Atossa Film/Berlin
Vadim Glowna was born 1941 and grew up in Hamburg. The
versatile actor, director and author began his career in 1961 when
Gustaf Gruendgens took him on at the Hamburger Schauspielhaus.
Glowna went on to become one of Germany’s most popular
actors, and also appeared in international productions like Sam
Peckinpah’s epos Cross of Iron and Claude Chabrol’s Quiet Days in
Clichy. In 2000 he was named Best Actor of the Year by the German
Film Critics’ Association for his appearance in Oskar Roehler’s
award-winning film No Place to Go. Glowna is also a very successful
director, having directed more than 30 television films and eight
feature films. In 1981 he won several awards for the film
Desperado City including the Caméra d’Or in Cannes. Two of his
other films, Nothing Left to Lose (1983) and Raising to the
Bait (1992), were in the official competition at Berlin and received
Honorable Mentions. In 1989 Glowna was member of the jury at the
Berlinale.
Atossa Film Produktion GmbH · Raymond Tarabay
Wielandstrasse 46 · 10625 Berlin/Germany
phone +49-30-3 12 14 72 · fax +49-30-3 13 79 33
email: info@atossafilm.de · www.dashausderschlafendenschoenen.de
2 · 2007
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50
Das Herz ist ein dunkler Wald
Nina Hoss in “The Heart is a Dark Forest” (photo © X Filme/Ulla Kimmig)
THE HEART IS A DARK FOREST
Marie accidentally discovers that her husband and the
father of her two children is leading a double life. He has
two of everything: two wives, two homes and two
families. As soon as night falls, Marie leaves her home and
secretly follows her husband to a masked ball. She is looking for consolation, for explanations. After daybreak, she
will know whether she can face this new reality and return
to her children …
Genre Drama Category Feature Film Cinema Year of Production 2007 Director Nicolette Krebitz Screenplay
Nicolette Krebitz Director of Photography Bella Halben
Editor Sara Schilde Music by Fetisch & Me, Whitest Boy Alive
Production Design Christel Rehm, Sylvester Koziolek
Producer Tom Tykwer Production Company X Filme
Creative Pool/Berlin, in co-production with NDR/Hamburg
Principal Cast Nina Hoss, Devid Striesow, Marc Hosemann,
Franziska Petri, Monica Bleibtreu, Otto Sander, Angelika Taschen,
Guenther Maria Halmer Casting Molitoris Casting/Hamburg
Length 83 min, 2,270 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original
Version German Subtitled Versions English, French Sound
Technology Dolby SRD Awards Best Screenplay Nordische
Filmtage Luebeck 2007 With backing from FilmFoerderung
Hamburg, MSH Schleswig-Holstein, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA) German Distributor X
Verleih/Berlin
Nicolette Krebitz is an award-winning actress, writer and
director. Her films as a director include: Jeans (2001), Mon
Chérie (2001), and The Heart is a Dark Forest (Das
Herz ist ein dunkler Wald, 2007).
X Filme Creative Pool GmbH
Kurfuerstenstrasse 57 · 10785 Berlin/Germany
phone +49-30-23 08 33 11 · fax +49-30-23 08 33 22
email: info@x-filme.de · www.x-filme.de
2 · 2007
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51
Klassenfahrt in das Revier der Wilderer
Scene from “School Trip Into Poachers’ Territory”
(photo © irrlicht-film)
SCHOOL TRIP INTO POACHERS’ TERRITORY
A village on the edge of the Lower Zambesi National
Park. The children hate wild animals because they destroy
harvests and kill people. But there are actually many animals which the children have never seen. We accompany
a few children on their first trip into the nearby but unknown wilderness.
Meanwhile Wildlife Police Officers try to track down
poachers in the national park. Shots are echoing through
the bush.
Genre Education, Nature Category Documentary TV Year of
Production 2007 Directors Marcus Lenz, Ingo Rudloff
Screenplay Marcus Lenz Director of Photography Marcus
Lenz Editors Marcus Lenz, Ingo Rudloff Music by Oliver Heuss
Producer Ingo Rudloff Production Company irrlichtfilm/Berlin Length 52 min Format DigiBeta, color, 16:9
Original Version German Dubbed Version English Sound
Technology Dolby
Marcus Lenz was born in the Ruhr Basin in 1969. After completing his studies in Essen, he worked as a communications designer before discovering his love for storytelling. In 1995 he began
studies at the German Film & Television Academy in Berlin and
founded the production company irrlicht-film in 2001 together with
Ingo Rudloff. He also works as an animal film director and director
of photography. Among other films, he shot Das Wunder von
Kaufbeuren (by Gerald Maas and Tine Kugler), as well as the
Portuguese features Esquece tudo o que te disse and Respirar (by
Antonio Ferreira) and won the award for Best Cinematography at the
Festival Ibérico de Cine in Badajoz/Spain in 2001. His films as a
director include: immer und immer (short, 1997), alles ist
nie (short, 1998), Der gelbe Fluss – Leben und Sterben
in Hongkong (documentary, 2000), Deutsche Angst (2001),
Close (2004), 24 UTC – Die Welt um Mitternacht (documentary, 2006), and (together with Ingo Rudloff ) Phantoms of
the Night – Lynxes in Europe (2003), Snakes Nearby –
The Hunt for Species (2005), and School Trip Into
Poachers’ Territory (2007).
Ingo Rudloff was born in 1969 in Bochum and studied
Psychology with high honors at the Ruhr University Bochum, where
he also instructed after his graduation. His other films include:
Evacuation (1994), Rungholt – Hommage to Mechthild
von Leusch (1995), and Oskar Sala – The Former Future
of Sound (2000).
World Sales
HS Media Consult · Heide Schramm
Wasenstrasse 29 · 72135 Dettenhausen/Germany
phone +49-71 57-62 00 08 · fax +49-71 57-62 00 09
email: info@hsmedia-consult.de · www.hsmedia-consult.de
2 · 2007
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52
Libanon – Standhalten im Wahnsinn
Scene from “Lebanon – Resisting Lunacy” (photo © Uwe-S. Tautenhahn)
LEBANON – RESISTING LUNACY
Two Lebanese women, who have lived in Germany for 15
years and organized public art performances in Berlin
during the Israel-Lebanon war, travel to Lebanon to better
understand the impact of the war in their country. At sites
which represent the past and present times, they tell about
their own experiences in Lebanon, meet friends and
strangers, and offer an insight into the current situation in
Lebanon – between hope and hopelessness.
Genre History Category Documentary TV Year of
Production 2007 Director Uwe-S. Tautenhahn Director of
Photography Uwe-S. Tautenhahn Editors Uwe-S. Tautenhahn,
Michael Schehl Music by Frank Makaroon Producer Uwe-S.
Tautenhahn Production Company Tpoint Film/Berlin, in coproduction with Gaffer & Grip Filmproduktion/Berlin, RaoucheFilm/Beirut With Houda Peatz, Chaza Charafeddine Length 60
min Format HDV, color, 16:9 Original Version
German/Arabic Subtitled Version English Voice Over
English Sound Technology Stereo
Uwe-S. Tautenhahn was born in 1962 in Zwickau. In 1988, he
began working as a cameraman and documentary filmmaker. His
films include: Outing (short, 1996), The Fall (short, 2003), and
Lebanon – Resisting Lunacy (Libanon – Standhalten
im Wahnsinn, 2007).
Tpoint Film · Uwe-S. Tautenhahn
Schoenhauser Allee 151 · 10435 Berlin/Germany
phone +49-30-42 01 74 70 · fax +49-30-6 71 26 32
email: tautenhahn.film@t-online.de
2 · 2007
new german films
53
Liebesleben
Cover of the novel “Liebesleben” (motif courtesy of Berlin Verlag)
LOVELIFE
When Jara meets Arie, her father’s boyhood friend, she is
immediately drawn to his unflinching and assured presence. It is not long before she forsakes her well-meaning
husband for the powerful, mysterious older man, who
seems to represent something totally new and exciting in
her life. In short: will, strength and the key to her family’s
mysterious past. They fall into a heated affair that soon
drifts towards the destructive as Jara realizes the things in
Arie that attract and repel her with equal intensity at the
same time. The story does not only deal with getting her
feelings and love under control, in addition it describes the
way of finding her own personality in consideration of her
difficult family background.
The novel Lovelife is cerebral, seductive, provocative, and
profound and was 25 weeks in the European Top 10 list
of bestselling books. Lovelife has been declared a true
literary celebration … one of the most inspired novels ever
written in Israeli literature.
Genre Drama, Literature Category Feature Film Cinema Year
of Production 2007 Director Maria Schrader Screenplay
Maria Schrader, Laila Stieler, based on a novel by Zeruya Shalev
Director of Photography Benedict Neuenfels Editor Antje
Zynga Music by Niki Reiser Production Design Christian M.
Goldbeck Producers Stefan Arndt, Marek Rozenbaum
Production Company X Filme Creative Pool/Berlin, in co-production with Transfax Film/Tel Aviv Principal Cast Netta Garti,
Rade Sherbedgia, Tovah Feldshuh, Stephen Singer Casting Esther
Kling, Avy Kaufman Special Effects Pini Klavir Length 104 min,
2,846 m Format 35 mm, color, cs Original Version English
Dubbed Version German Sound Technology Dolby SRD
With backing from Filmstiftung NRW, Filmfoerderungsanstalt
(FFA), Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, BKM, Israel Film Fund
German Distributor X Verleih/Berlin
Maria Schrader was born in 1965 in Hanover. In 1999, she was
named as one of the European Film Promotion’s “Shooting Stars”.
Primarily active as an actress, she has worked with some of
Germany’s most successful directors, in films including Aimée &
Jaguar (Max Faerbrboeck), Bin ich schoen? (Doris Doerrie), Emil und
die Detektive (Franziska Buch), Meschugge, Vaeter, and Stille Nacht
(Dani Levy), Rosenstrasse (Margarethe von Trotta), and Schneeland
(Hans W. Geissendoerfer). Together with director Dani Levy, she
also co-directed Meschugge and Stille Nacht.
X Filme Creative Pool GmbH
Kurfuerstenstrasse 57 · 10785 Berlin/Germany
phone +49-30-23 08 33 11 · fax +49-30-23 08 33 22
email: info@x-filme.de · www.x-filme.de
2 · 2007
new german films
54
Scenes from “Mikrofan” (photo courtesy of Meerfilm)
Mikrofan
Sam is a rapper, so are his best friends. Around a soccer
field in Hamburg in the shadow of three skyscrapers they
live their lives and love their music. When one of his
friends starts an affair with Sam’s girlfriend Lisa, angry
silence starts, till the ‘mikrofan’ takes the word up …
Mikrofan is a milieu film about hip hop music, friendship,
love, morals, drugs, dealing, betraying and about talking
and not talking.
Matthias Staehle was born in 1975 and studied Visual
Communication in Film at the Academy of Fine Arts Hamburg.
After his studies, he worked as a freelance director and founded
the production company meerfilm and the audiovisual label musicfiction (www.musicfiction.de). A selection of his films as a writer
and director include: the shorts Leaving (1999), Johnny’s Ark
(2001), 4 O’Clock (2002), 50 Euro (2003), Window to
Chile (2004), Advent, Advent (2004), Desertion (2005)
and the feature Mikrofan (2007).
Genre Drama, Music Category Feature Film Cinema Year of
Production 2007 Director Matthias Staehle Screenplay
Matthias Staehle Director of Photography Sven O. Hill
Editor Tobias Peper Music by Starssindamarsch Production
Design Anke Spaeth Producer Matthias Staehle Production
Company Meerfilm/Hamburg Principal Cast Philipp Babing,
Julia Ehlers, David Stegemann, Johannes Schaefer, Renato Schuch,
Nadine Nollau, Rebecca Lina Casting Matthias Staehle Length
80 min, 2,200 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original
Version German Subtitled Versions English, French Sound
Technology Dolby SR With backing from HfbK Hamburg,
Mbf, Studio Hamburg, Kodak, VCC, Das Werk, Konken Tonstudios
Meerfilm · Matthias Staehle
Scheplerstrasse 1 · 22767 Hamburg/Germany
phone +49-1 72-7 15 49 42
email: mat@meerfilm.com · www.meerfilm.com
2 · 2007
new german films
55
Mondmann
Scene from “Moonman” (photo © Toccata Film)
MOONMAN
Once upon a time there lived a man up in the silvery
moon. He was so lonely that he hadn’t laughed for a hundred years. His greatest wish was to visit us humans, just
once in his life. One night his dream was fulfilled and he
managed to voyage down to earth on a buzzling comet.
But nobody understood the poor creature. Nobody –
except one …
A dreamlike adventure into the imagination of a child,
based on Tomi Ungerer’s classic picture-book The
Moonman.
Genre Children and Youth, Family Category Short Year of
Production 2006 Director Fritz Boehm Screenplay Fritz
Boehm Director of Photography Michael Praun Editors
Horst Reiter, Fritz Boehm Music by Martina Eisenreich
Production Design Susanne Prieschl, Monika Nuechtern
Producers Sven Nuri, Fritz Boehm, Christoph Strunck
Production Company Toccata Film/Munich, in co-production
with Hochschule fuer Fernsehen und Film Muenchen (HFF/M)/
Munich, BR/Munich, Alexander Dierbach & Hannah Maag/Munich
Principal Cast Michael Tregor, Jana Andjelkovic, Ralf Richter,
Piet Klocke, Stefan Rutz Casting Stefany Pohlmann Special
Effects Dirk Lange Length 29 min, 831 m Format 35 mm,
color, cs Original Version German Subtitled Version
English Sound Technology Dolby Digital 5.1 Festival
Screenings Sprockets Toronto 2007, Golden Sparrow
Gera/Erfurt 2007, Sehsuechte 2007, Munich 2007, Hearts of Gold
2007 With backing from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, BKM,
Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), Foerderverein der HFF/Munich
Fritz Boehm was born in 1980 in Berlin and spent part of his
childhood in the US. He shot his first film, A Fratricide, based on
the short novel by Franz Kafka, in Prague in 2001. During his studies
at the Munich Academy of Television & Film, he founded the production company Toccata Film together with fellow students Sven
Nuri and Christoph Strunck. Together they have produced more
than 15 short films and are currently preparing their first feature.
Moonman (Mondmann, 2006) is Boehm's graduate film as a
producer and director.
Toccata Film
Bayerisches Filmzentrum · Bavariafilmplatz 7 · 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany
phone +49-89-64 98 17 18 · fax +49-89-64 98 13 18
email: info@toccata-film.com · www.toccata-film.com
2 · 2007
new german films
56
The Monks (photo © play loud! + monks)
Monks – The Transatlantic Feedback
Everybody knows Elvis Presley served Uncle Sam in West
Germany, but have you ever heard of the five American
G.I.s who stayed on after their military discharge and
formed one of the wildest and most influential rock bands
of the 60s? Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the
stage the first avant-garde band, The Monks.
Combining rare archival footage of the band’s amazing
performances on live TV with contemporary interviews
with band members, eye witnesses and music commentators, this documentary traces the evolution of a
combo determined to expand the frontiers of popular
music. What emerges is a vital and illuminating picture of
German-American cross-cultural experience, and a tribute
to genuine rock and roll pioneers.
“A loving and penetrating documentary film.” (Hollywood
Reporter)
“An overdue history lesson.” (Rolling Stone)
“The filmmakers do a vivid job etching the creatively fervid
times, with an editing style whose dynamism echoes that of
Monk music.” (Variety)
“Like Fechner’s film about the Comedian Harmonists, this documentary combines beautifully the private with the political. The
play loud! productions · Dietmar Post
Gubener Strasse 23 · 10243 Berlin/Germany
phone +49-30-29 77 93 15 · fax +49-30-29 77 93 16
email: info@playloud.org · www.playloud.org
2 · 2007
Monks were the essence of the 60s art world.” (Berthold
Seliger)
Genre Art, Culture, History, Music Category Documentary
Cinema Year of Production 2006 Directors Dietmar Post,
Lucía Palacios Editors Dieter Jaufmann, Karl-W. Huelsenbeck
Soundtrack “silver monk time” featuring The Fall, Faust, Jon
Spencer, Alan Vega, Psychic TV, Mouse on Mars, Alec Empire, Int.
Noise Conspiracy, The Gossip, the original Monks and others
Movie Poster Daniel Richter Producers Dietmar Post, Lucía
Palacios Production Company play loud! productions/Berlin,
in co-production with ZDF & 3sat/Mainz, HR/Frankfurt Principal
Cast The Monks, Charles Wilp, Jochen Irmler, Jon Spencer,
Genesis P. Orridge, Peter Zaremba, Byron Coley, Jimmy Bowien,
Gerd Henjes, Wolfgang Gluszczewski Length 100 min Format
DigiBeta, color, 4:3 Original Version English/German
Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Stereo
Festival Screenings Los Angeles 2006, Leeds 2006, Munich
2006, Chicago 2006, Minneapolis 2006, Frankfurt 2006, Kassel
2006, Oslo 2006, Gijon 2006, Goeteborg 2007, Copenhagen 2007,
Wuerzburg 2007 Awards Audience Pick Leeds 2006, Best
Documentary Wuerzburg 2007, Audience Award Berlin & Beyond San
Francisco 2007 With backing from Filmfoerderung Hessen,
Filmstiftung NRW, Filmbuero NW, Chicago Underground Film
Fund, Anthology Film Archives, Cine Impuls
Dietmar Post was born in 1962. As a director and producer, he
has been working on short films and documentaries, such as Bowl
of Oatmeal (1996), Cloven Hoofed (1998) and Reverend
Billy (2002). Together with Spanish-born Lucía Palacios he
directed his second feature-length documentary Monks – The
Transatlantic Feedback (2006). They are currently planning a
new film together entitled Franco’s Settlers.
new german films
57
Neues vom Wixxer
Scene from “The Vexxer”
(photo courtesy of Atlas International Film)
THE VEXXER
He’s back … meaner and more dangerous than ever …
The Vexxer … Scotland Yard’s funniest nightmare!
Thick fog is once again covering night-time London. Dark
shadows fall on the city like a freshly ironed shroud.
Sounds exactly like Edgar Wallace! But honestly, he also
had nothing to do with this installment of the Skeletonfaced killer.
Three years ago, Chief Inspector Evan Longer and his
partner, Very Long, fought the evil gangster for the first
time, but ever since he’s returned, Scotland Yard is in
shock. The Vexxer has published a death-list and Very
Long is on it!
The most important thing is to protect the poor and helpless victims, especially the beautiful Victoria Dickham,
daughter of Lord Dickham and the secret love-interest of
Evan Longer. While the Chief Inspector is in seventh heaven, the Vexxer starts working his list …
Genre Comedy Category Feature Film Cinema Year of
Production 2007 Directors Cyrill Boss, Philipp Stennert
Screenplay Oliver Kalkofe, Oliver Welke, Bastian Pastewka
Director of Photography Jochen Staeblein Editor Stefan
Essl Music by Helmut Zerlett, Christoph Zirngiebl Production
Design Matthias Muesse Producer Christian Becker Pro-
duction Company Rat Pack Filmproduktion/Munich, in co-production with German Filmproduction GFP/Berlin, B.A. Produktion/
Munich Principal Cast Oliver Kalkofe, Bastian Pastewka, Joachim
Fuchsberger, Christiane Paul, Sonja Kirchberger, Judy Winter,
Christoph Maria Herbst, Hella von Sinnen, Christian Tramitz, Oliver
Welke, Chris Howland, Wolfgang Voelz, Lars Rudolph, Thomas
Heinze, Martin Semmelrogge Special Effects Gregor Eckstein
Length 94 min, 2,571 m Format 35 mm, color/b&w, cs
Technology Dolby Digital With backing from
FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Bayerischer BankenFonds BBF,
Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA) German Distributor Constantin
Film Verleih/Munich
Cyrill Boss’s films include: Richtung Allgaeu (2003),
Maerchenstunde: Rapunzel oder Mord ist ihr Hobby
(TV, 2006), Maerchenstunde: Zwerg Nase – 4 Faeuste
fuer ein Zauberkraut (TV, 2006), and The Vexxer (Neues
vom Wixxer, 2007).
Philipp Stennert’s films include: Dark (1998), Shadowman
(short, 2001), Agujero (2004), Maerchenstunde: Rapunzel
oder Mord ist ihr Hobby (TV, 2006), Maerchenstunde:
Zwerg Nase – 4 Faeuste fuer ein Zauberkraut (TV,
2006), and The Vexxer (Neues vom Wixxer, 2007).
World Sales
Atlas International Film GmbH · Stefan Menz, Dieter Menz, Philipp Menz
Candidplatz 11 · 81543 Munich/Germany
phone +49-89-2 10 97 50 · fax +49-89-22 43 32
email: mail@atlasfilm.com · www.atlasfilm.com
2 · 2007
new german films
58
Scene from “Osdorf ” (photo © Katja Ruge)
Osdorf
The highrise estate Osdorfer Born in west Hamburg is
regarded as something of a social hot spot. Although most
of the boys from Osdorf weren’t even born in Germany,
they feel strongly attached to their neighborhood and
proudly display their ghetto identity. However, the boys
have their doubts – they are aware that it is a strange
world they live in, where a criminal counts more than
someone who goes to school. The film follows these boys,
in their search for answers to the difficult questions of
everyday life – why do they commit crimes? Which other
ways can they see for themselves? Do they have dreams?
In what way do they feel responsible? It is the ambiguity
between the boys’ refreshingly honest reflections and the
gangster clichés they copy that lets their charm unfold.
To gain respect, certain codes have to be adhered to.
Alican and Siar, the film’s protagonists, know the rules of
the Osdorf streets. They worked hard for their reputation,
and they see hardly any alternative to the lives they live
there.
Some of the boys from the group take part in the project
“Prisoners Help Juveniles”. They are deeply impressed
after a visit with inmates of the Fuhlsbuettel correctional
facility, “Santa Fu”. They identify with the felons: the meet-
ing becomes a reflective experience. However, the film
leaves open what consequences this visit may have and
what the boys’ future may bring.
Genre Society, Youth & Immigration Category Documentary
Cinema Year of Production 2007 Director Maja Classen
Screenplay Maja Classen Directors of Photography
Johannes Neumann, Christoph Lemmen Editor Thomas Krause
Music by Nicolas Hoeppner, CC Attack, Adrenalin featuring
Danny Producer Max Springer Production Company
Hochschule fuer Film und Fernsehen ’Konrad Wolf ’/PotsdamBabelsberg Length 77 min Format DigiBeta, color, 16:9
Technology Dolby Surround Festival Screenings Berlin
2007 (Perspectives German Cinema)
Maja Classen was born in 1974 in Hamburg. Before her studies
at the ’Konrad Wolf ’ Academy of Film & Television from 20002006, she worked as an assistant director and completed a training
course in editing and production in San Francisco and studied
American Studies, Psychology and German Literature in Hamburg.
Her films include: the shorts Nightshot (1999), The Juggler
(2000), Alles soll in Erfuellung gehen (2001), Heimat
(2003), Tancu (2004), and the documentary features Don’t
Forget to Go Home (Feiern, 2006), and Osdorf (2007).
Hochschule fuer Film und Fernsehen ’Konrad Wolf’ · Cristina Marx
Marlene-Dietrich-Allee 11 · 14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg/Germany
phone +49-3 31-6 20 25 64 · fax +49-3 31-6 20 25 69
email: distribution@hff-potsdam.de · www.hff-potsdam.de
2 · 2007
new german films
59
Paul und Bataar
Team from “Paul and Bataar” (photo courtesy of Caterina Klusemann)
PAUL AND BATAAR
Paul has lived all over the world, but he hasn’t really seen
much of it. His father is a diplomat. But since Paul’s
mother died, his father has become rather introverted and
is not really interested in much. At the moment, the family, which also includes Paul’s little sister, lives in Mongolia.
One day Paul breaks out of his pampered home. What he
is really after is his father’s attention, and what he gets is a
great adventure. Paul befriends Bataar, who has also run
away from his difficult nomad existence.
Together, the two observe a gang of thieves and while on
the chase after them not only do they get to know the entire country but also get into a heap of trouble. Then surprisingly they manage to outwit the gang and finally get
the recognition they so dearly crave.
With Bataar, Paul discovers a foreign culture, the vastness
of the steppe, and the freedom that allows him to leave his
disappointments behind.
Genre Children and Youth, Family, Road Movie Category
Feature Film Cinema Year of Production 2006 Director
Caterina Klusemann Screenplay Caterina Klusemann
Directors of Photography Batmunkh Purevdorj, Gonchig
Batnyagt Editor Anja Lueke Music by Claas Willeke, Matthias
Raue Producers Caterina Klusemann, Elke Ried Production
Companies Zieglerfilm Koeln/Cologne, Caterina Klusemann
Filmproduktion/Berlin Principal Cast Vashik Piños, Ajnai
Erdenee, Josh Evans, David O’Connor, Myagmar Rentzenkhand
Length 70 min Format DV, color Original Version English/
Mongolian Dubbed Version German Sound Technology
Mono
Caterina Klusemann was born in 1973 in Lucca/Italy and
grew up in Venezuela, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. She studied
Biochemistry from 1991-1995 in Basel, followed by studies in Film
Direction at Columbia University from 1996-2001. Her films include: H&G (short, 2000), Matrilineal (short, 2001), Ima
(2001), For Our Man (short, 2002), and Paul and Bataar
(2006).
Zieglerfilm Koeln GmbH
Breite Strasse 100 / Auf dem Berlich 1 · 50667 Cologne/Germany
phone +49-2 21-2 72 72 60 · fax +49-2 21-27 27 26 26
email: mail@zieglerfilmkoeln.de · www.zieglerfilmkoeln.de
2 · 2007
new german films
60
Scene from “Prater” (photo © Ulrike Ottinger Filmproduktion)
Prater
Vienna’s Prater is an amusement park and a desire machine. No mechanical invention, no novel idea or sensational innovation could escape incorporation into the
Prater. The diverse story-telling in Ulrike Ottinger’s film
Prater transforms this place of sensations into a modern
cinema of attractions. The Prater’s history from the beginning to the present is told by its protagonists and those
who have documented it, including contemporary cinematic images of the Prater, interviews with carnies, commentary by Austrians and visitors from abroad, film
quotes, and photographic and written documentary
materials. The meaning of the Prater, its status as a place
of technological innovation, and its role as a cultural
medium are reflected in texts by Elfriede Jelinek, Josef von
Sternberg, Erich Kaestner and Elias Canetti, as well as in
music devoted to this amusement venue throughout the
course of its history.
Genre Culture Category Documentary Cinema Year of
Production 2007 Director Ulrike Ottinger Assistant
Director Hanne Lassl Screenplay Maria Turek Director of
Photography Ulrike Ottinger Editor Bettina Blickwede Music
by Klaus Kellermann Producer Ulrike Ottinger Production
Company Ulrike Ottinger Filmproduktion/Berlin, in co-production with Kurt Mayer Film/Vienna, WDR/Cologne Length
104 min, 3,009 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original
Version German Subtitled Version English Sound
Technology Dolby Digital Surround Festival Screenings
Berlin 2007 (Forum), Mar del Plata 2007 With backing from
ORF, Filmfonds Wien
Ulrike Ottinger was born in Konstanz in 1942 and studied Art
in Munich from 1959-1961. She has been living in Berlin since 1973
and is a member of the Academy of Arts and the European Film
Academy in Berlin. Active as a writer, director and camerawoman,
her films include: Laokoon & Sons (Laokoon & Soehne,
1973), Madame X – An Absolute Ruler (Madame X –
eine absolute Herrscherin, 1977), Ticket of No Return
(Bildnis einer Trinkerin, 1979), Freak Orlando (1980),
Dorian Gray in the Mirror of the Yellow Press (Dorian
Gray im Spiegel der Boulevardpresse, 1984), China.
The Arts – The People (China. Die Kuenste, der
Alltag, 1985), Johanna d’Arc of Mongolia (1989), Taiga
(1992), Exil Shanghai (1997), Southeast Passage
(Suedost Passage, 2002), Twelve Chairs (Zwoelf
Stuehle, 2004), and Prater (2007) among others.
World Sales
Media Luna Entertainment GmbH & Co. KG · Ida Martins
Hochstadenstrasse 1-3 · 50674 Cologne/Germany
phone +49-2 21-8 01 49 80 · fax +49-2 21-80 14 98 21
email: info@medialuna-entertainment.de · www.medialuna-entertainment.de
2 · 2007
new german films
61
Preussisch Gangstar
Scene from “Prussian Gangstars” (photo © Fortuna Film)
PRUSSIAN GANGSTARS
Prussian Gangstars is a slice of life view of three youths
in small-town Brandenburg. The idyllic setting and the
modest prosperity of the community mask the problems
with which the young people have to contend. Nico is a
school drop-out, dreaming of a hip-hop career. Tino, in an
effort to satisfy the expectations of his mother, struggles
to gain his lower school certificate. Oli wants to open a
club, but his girlfriend dreams of leaving their hum-drum
provincial life behind them. The difficulties seem routine
enough. Nonetheless, an unfathomable void develops between their youthful values and those of their parents.
Only their friendship gives them a degree of security.
Together they are the “Prussian Gangstars”.
Genre Coming-of-Age, Drama Category Feature Film Cinema
Year of Production 2007 Directors Irma-Kinga Stelmach,
Bartosz Werner Screenplay Irma-Kinga Stelmach, Bartosz
Werner Directors of Photography Andreas Bergmann, Ben
Pohl Editor Marc Hofmeister Music by Benjamin Krbetschek,
Preussisch Gangstar, Kolonne Ost Producer Philip Pratt
Production Company Fortuna Film/Berlin, in co-production
with Hochschule fuer Film und Fernsehen ’Konrad Wolf ’/PotsdamBabelsberg Principal Cast Mario Knofe, Robert Ohde, Benjamin
Succow Length 88 min Format HDV Blow-up 35 mm, color,
1:1.85 Original Version German Subtitled Version English
Sound Technology Stereo Festival Screenings Ophuels
Festival Saarbruecken 2007, Filmkunst Fest Schwerin 2007, Filmfest
Cottbus 2007 Awards Best Original Score Saarbruecken 2007
With backing from MSH Schleswig-Holstein, Filmbuero
Bremen
Irma-Kinga Stelmach was born in 1975 in Boleslawiec/
Poland and has been living in Germany since 1989. After taking a
diploma in Fine Arts in Berlin, she studied at the Central Saint
Martins College of Art & Design in London and at UIC Chicago. She
has been studying Directing at the ’Konrad Wolf ’ Academy of Film
& Television since 2002. Her films include: Kurowski Shop
(2001), Happy Christmas (Frohe Weihnachten, 2002),
Jubilate (2004), hold.me.loose (halt.mich.los, 2005),
afterhour (2006), and Prussian Gangstars (Preussisch
Gangstar, 2007).
Bartosz Werner was born in 1979 in Bielsko Biala/Poland and
has been living in Germany since 1986. He studied at the ’Konrad
Wolf ’ Academy of Film & Television from 2000-2006. His films
include: Seven Seconds (Sieben Sekunden, 2001), Mr.
Hollywood Star (2002), New Worlds (Neue Welten,
2003), Sweet Lullabies (2004), Highway (Autobahn,
2005), Kinzels Backyard (Kinzels Hinterhof, 2006), and
Prussian Gangstars (Preussisch Gangstar, 2007).
Hochschule fuer Film und Fernsehen ’Konrad Wolf’ · Cristina Marx
Marlene-Dietrich-Allee 11 · 14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg/Germany
phone +49-3 31-6 20 25 64 · fax +49-3 31-6 20 25 69
email: distribution@hff-potsdam.de · www.hff-potsdam.de
2 · 2007
new german films
62
Der Rote Elvis
Dan Reed (photos courtesy of Totho cmp)
THE RED ELVIS
On the 17th of June 1986 a man is dragged out of a lake
in East Berlin. He turns out to be the US American singer
and actor Dean Reed, a highly mysterious legend of
global pop culture during Cold War times.
After leaving his hometown in Colorado at a young age in
order to take acting classes in Hollywood, Reed soon is
produced by Capitol Records and successfully launched in
South America. In Chile he experiences his political initiation and transforms to a contradictive freedom fighter
after the Pinochet Coup in 1973. He devotes himself to
the promotion of Socialism. His beliefs make him travel to
support Arafat – this time with a Kalashnikov in addition
to his guitar. Always trying to use his artistic talents to influence global politics, he gains the aura of a US American
activist. Rockstar, Cowboy, Socialist – Reed becomes the
ultimate superstar of the Eastern Bloc. Moreover, he wants
to become Senator of Colorado and calls Reagan a “state
terrorist”. This directs his life to a point of no return.
Dean Reed embodies qualities of mutual exclusiveness,
thereby likewise irritating devotees and enemies with his
manifold persona. He acts in 18 movies, records 13
albums and performs in more than 32 countries. Reed
ends up being a distraught rebel. His desire for peace and
justice collides with his yearning for love and affection. He
remains an icon and his ideals remind us of those policies
that presently regain a strong contemporary quality.
Genre Biopic, History, Music Category Documentary Cinema
Year of Production 2007 Director Leopold Gruen Screenplay Leopold Gruen Director of Photography Thomas Janze
Editor Dirk Uhlig Music by Monomango Producer Thomas
Janze Production Company Totho cmp/Berlin With Isabel
Allende Bussi, Celino Bleiweiss, Peter Boyles, Egon Krenz, Maren
Zeidler, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Wiebke Reed, Guenter Reisch
Length 90 min, 2,466 m Format DigiBeta, color, 16:9 Blow-up
35 mm, color, 16:9 Original Version German/English/Spanish
Festival Screenings Berlin 2007 (Panorama) With backing
from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, DEFA Foundation, SONY
Deutschland German Distributor Neue Visionen Filmverleih/Berlin
Leopold Gruen was born in 1968 in Dresden. He studied Media
Pedagogy and worked as a teacher from 1990-1996, followed by
studies in Media Consultancy and Sociology from 1998-2001. Since
2001, he has been working as a freelance documentary director and
media consultant and began working on The Red Elvis (Der
Rote Elvis) in 2002.
World Sales
ARRI Media Worldsales · Antonio Exacoustos
Tuerkenstrasse 89 · 80799 Munich/Germany
phone +49-89-38 09 12 88 · fax +49-89-38 09 16 19
email: aexacoustos@arri.de · www.arri-mediaworldsales.de
2 · 2007
new german films
63
Vollidiot
Scene from “Complete Idiot” (photo © Senator Film Verleih)
COMPLETE IDIOT
Not all men are idiots – some are complete idiots.
Simon Peters, a passionless telephone salesman, is down
on his luck, has no girlfriend and is about to turn thirty. His
girlfriend left him a year ago and a new situation is nowhere in sight. Neither the Cologne nightlife scene nor the
attempts by his Croatian cleaning lady to hook him up
with someone offer any sort of hope of sexual fulfillment.
But one day, behind the window of the All American
Coffee Company he sees the woman of his dreams:
Marcia P. Garcia, a South American expert in the art of
frothing milk. She has a sensational smile and an equally
sensational body. Simon is certain – she’s the one. The
woman of his life. The mother of his bilingual children. Just
one little thing stands in the way of a romantic wedding:
Simon still has to approach her first.
Genre Comedy Category Feature Film Cinema Year of
Production 2007 Director Tobi Baumann Screenplay
Tommy Jaud Director of Photography Jo Heim Editor
Martin Wolf Music by Stephan & Cecil Remmler Production
Design Josef Sanktjohanser Producers Christoph Mueller, Sven
Burgemeister Production Company Senator Film Produktion/
Berlin, in co-production with Europool/Munich, in cooperation with
Pictorion Pictures/Huerth, Goldkind Film/Munich Principal
Cast Oliver Pocher, Oliver Fleischer, Tanja Wenzel, Anke Engelke,
Ellenie Salvo González, Tomas Sinclair Spencer, Herbert Feuerstein
Casting Emrah Ertem Length 102 min, 2,783 m Format 35
mm, color, cs Original Version German Subtitled Version
English Sound Technology Dolby Digital With backing
from Filmstiftung NRW, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA),
Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, BKM German Distributor
Senator Film Verleih/Berlin
Tobi Baumann was born in 1974 in Koblenz. He began his
comedy career as a writer for the RTL Nachtshow and Die Harald
Schmidt Show and has been directing and winning awards for such
television comedy shows as Die Wochenshow, Ladykracher, and Ohne Worte. A “self-made man” in the German
comedy scene, Der Wixxer (2004) was his feature debut, followed by the TV series LiebesLeben and Ladyland, and his
second feature Complete Idiot (Vollidiot, 2007).
World Sales
phone +49-89-55 87 60 · fax +49-89-55 87 62 29
2 · 2007
new german films
64
Die Wilden Huehner und die Liebe
Scene from “Wild Chicks in Love” (photo © 2007 Constantin Film)
WILD CHICKS IN LOVE
Love sure is a tough nut to crack, and Sprotte, Frieda,
Melanie, Wilma and Trude can tell you a thing or two
about it. All the "wild chicks" are struggling with it.
Melanie is deeply hurt since Willi has left her for another
girl, Nana, who’s two years older than him. Frieda has a
complicated weekend relationship with Maik, whom she
met at riding camp. Trude dreams of fellow student Ricky’s
smoldering gaze. And Sprotte is still seeing Fred. In fact,
everything would be great between them if it weren’t for
Sprotte’s jealousy. The wild chicks’ leader also has another
problem to cope with: her mother Sybille is planning to
marry Thorben when Sprotte’s father suddenly turns up
after twelve years and sets Sybille’s heart all aflutter … But
the most difficult relation of all has to be Wilma’s. Love, as
the chicks come to realize, doesn’t always have to do with
boys. In spite of all the emotional turmoil, the clique
manages to stick together – which is just what you’d
expect from these wild chicks!
Genre Family Entertainment Category Feature Film Cinema
Year of Production 2007 Director Vivian Naefe
Screenplay Marie Graf, Uschi Reich, Vivian Naefe Director of
Photography Peter Doettling (bvk) Editor Hansjoerg
Weissbrich (bfs) Music by Annette Focks Production Design
Annette Ingerl Producers Uschi Reich, Peter Zenk CoProducers Gabriele Heuser, Susanne van Lessen Production
Company Bavaria Filmverleih- & Produktion/Munich, in co-pro-
duction with Lunaris Film/Munich, Constantin Film Production/
Munich, ZDF/Mainz Principal Cast Michelle von Treuberg, Paula
Riemann, Jette Hering, Lucie Hollmann, Zsá Zsá Inci Buerkle, Svea
Bein, Veronica Ferres, Thomas Kretschmann, Oliver Stokowski,
Jessica Schwarz, Doris Schade, Benno Fuermann Casting
Jacqueline Rietz, Maria Schwarz, An Dorthe Braker Length 108
min, 2,970 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version
German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology
Dolby SR With backing from Filmstiftung NRW, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), Bayerischer
BankenFonds BBF German Distributor Constantin Film
Verleih/Munich
Vivian Naefe studied at the Academy of Television & Film in
Munich from 1978-1982. Her other films include: Schwarzer
Bube (1984), Ticket nach Rom (1985), Der Boss aus dem
Westen (1987), Pizza-Express (1988), Mauritius-Los
(1989), Fuer immer jung (1990), Mit allen Mitteln (aka
Meine Tochter gehoert mir, 1991), Todesreigen (TV,
1992), Toedliches Netz (TV, 1993), Mann sucht Frau (TV,
1994), Zaubergirl (TV, 1994), Ich liebe den Mann meiner
Tochter (TV, 1995), Blutiger Asphalt (TV, 1995), Lautlose
Jagd (TV, 1996), 2 Maenner, 2 Frauen, 4 Probleme (1997),
Rache fuer mein totes Kind (TV, 1998), Einer geht noch
(TV, 2000), Kleine Diebe (TV, 2000), Frauen luegen besser
(TV, 2000), Bobby (TV, 2001), Die Schoenheit von
Bitterfeld (TV, 2002), So schnell Du kannst (TV, 2002),
Wellen (TV, 2004), and Die Wilden Huehner (2005).
World Sales
phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20
2 · 2007
new german films
65
VGF INFORMATION
REMUNERATION IN GERMANY
FOR
PRIVATE COPYING – RENTAL OF VIDEOGRAMS – CABLE RETRANSMISSION
VGF, a collecting society under German law, was founded in 1981 when private homecopying of TV-programs (in
particular feature films) by means of videorecording equipment started to become commercially important.
Since 1982 VGF collects video levy monies due to German and foreign film producers under Art. 54 of the German Copyright
Act (for blank cassettes and VCR’s) and distributes them to the respective rightsowners. The German
Collecting Societies Act obliges VGF to make sure that all authors/rightsowners and owners of neighbouring rights of
motion pictures, including foreign rightsowners who enjoy national treatment under the international copyright
conventions, receive an equitable share of the monies collected for all rightsowners of programs broadcasted by
German TV-Stations. Since it is virtually impossible for the individual rightsowners to control the use of the property
and to make claims individually, Art. 54 provides that the respective rights must be administered collectively and
claims can be made through a collecting society only.
VGF now administers a great number of film rights of important film and TV producers from USA, Great Britain,
Germany and other countries who have joined VGF as members. Since VGF’s activities come under the supervision of
the German Patent Office, it is safeguarded that a fair devision of monies among all rightsowners concerned takes place
and that producers receive an equitable share of the video levy revenues in Germany.
The following rights/claims, which can only be brought forward through a collecting society, presently
administered by VGF are:
Art. 54 German Copyright Act – Video Levy
Art. 54 of the German Copyright Act provides a remuneration for private copying of TV programs. As the rightowner
cannot prevent private copying, manufacturers and importers of blank cassettes and VCR’s are charged with a levy.
The claim can be made by a collecting society only (Art. 54 Sec. 6.1 German Copyright Act). VGF as a trustee
administers the rights for film and TV producers and distributes the respective amounts to the rightsowners.
Licensing of television rights does not imply transfer of the above mentioned right.
Art. 27 German Copyright Act – Rental Levy
Art. 27 of the German Copyright Act entitles rightsowners to a supplementary remuneration for the rental and lending
of videograms by video-retailers. The money must be paid by the video-retailer. It is provided by law (Art. 27 Sec.3)
that claims can be made by collecting societies only.
Art. 20 b German Copyright Act – Cable Retransmission Fee
Rightowners whose programs are broadcast by German TV stations and retransmitted via cable are also entitled to a
remuneration for such cable retransmission. VGF is also active in collecting this fee. Administration of the above
mentioned fees by VGF incurrs no costs for the rightsowners. If your company is interested in collecting these remunerations,
please contact VGF for more detailed information.
VGF Verwertungsgesellschaft für Nutzungsrechte an Filmwerken mbH
Neue Schönhauser Straße 10, D-10178 Berlin
Phone: 0049-30-2 79 07 39-46 Fax: 0049-30-2 79 07 39 48
post@vgf.de
Beichstraße 8, D-80802 München
Phone: 0049-89-39 14 25 Fax: 0049-89-3 40 12 91
GERMAN FILMS
SHAREHOLDERS & SUPPORTERS
Arbeitsgemeinschaft
Neuer Deutscher Spielfilmproduzenten e.V.
Association of New Feature Film Producers
Muenchner Freiheit 20, 80802 Munich/Germany
phone +49-89-2 71 74 30, fax +49-89-2 71 97 28
email: mail@ag-spielfilm.de, www.ag-spielfilm.de
Der Beauftragte der Bundesregierung
fuer Kultur und Medien
Referat K 35, Europahaus, Stresemannstrasse 94,
10963 Berlin/Germany
phone +49-18 88-6 81 49 29, fax +49-18 88-68 15 49 29
email: Ulrike.Schauz@bkm.bmi.bund.de
Filmfoerderungsanstalt
German Federal Film Board
Grosse Praesidentenstrasse 9, 10178 Berlin/Germany
phone +49-30-27 57 70, fax +49-30-27 57 71 11
email: presse@ffa.de, www.ffa.de
FilmFernsehFonds Bayern GmbH
Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Medien
in Bayern
Sonnenstrasse 21, 80331 Munich/Germany
phone +49-89-54 46 02-0, fax +49-89-54 46 02 21
email: filmfoerderung@fff-bayern.de, www.fff-bayern.de
Verband Deutscher Filmexporteure e.V. (VDFE)
Association of German Film Exporters
Tegernseer Landstrasse 75, 81539 Munich/Germany
phone +49- 89-6 42 49 70, fax +49-89-6 92 09 10
email: mail@vdfe.de, www.vdfe.de
FilmFoerderung Hamburg GmbH
Friedensallee 14–16, 22765 Hamburg/Germany
phone +49-40-39 83 70, fax +49-40-3 98 37 10
email: filmfoerderung@ffhh.de, www.ffhh.de
Verband Deutscher Spielfilmproduzenten e.V.
Association of German Feature Film Producers
Beichstrasse 8, 80802 Munich/Germany
phone +49-89-39 11 23, fax +49-89-33 74 32
Bundesverband Deutscher Fernsehproduzenten e.V.
Association of German Television Producers
Brienner Strasse 26, 80333 Munich/Germany
phone +49-89-28 62 83 85, fax +49-89-28 62 82 47
email: post@tv-produzenten.de, www.tv-produzenten.de
Deutsche Kinemathek
Museum fuer Film und Fernsehen
Potsdamer Strasse 2, 10785 Berlin/Germany
phone +49-30-30 09 03-0, fax +49-30-30 09 03-13
email: info@deutsche-kinemathek.de, www.deutsche-kinemathek.de
Arbeitsgemeinschaft Dokumentarfilm e.V.
German Documentary Association
Schweizer Strasse 6, 60594 Frankfurt am Main/Germany
phone +49-69-62 37 00, fax +49-61 42-96 64 24
email: agdok@agdok.de, www.agdok.de
Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kurzfilm e.V.
German Short Film Association
Kamenzer Strasse 60, 01099 Dresden/Germany
phone +49-3 51-4 04 55 75, fax +49-3 51-4 04 55 76
email: info@ag-kurzfilm.de, www.ag-kurzfilm.de
2 · 2007
Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen GmbH
Kaistrasse 14, 40221 Duesseldorf/Germany
phone +49-2 11-93 05 00, fax +49-2 11-93 05 05
email: info@filmstiftung.de, www.filmstiftung.de
Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH
August-Bebel-Strasse 26-53, 14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg/Germany
phone +49-3 31-74 38 70, fax +49-3 31-7 43 87 99
email: info@medienboard.de, www.medienboard.de
Medien- und Filmgesellschaft
Baden-Wuerttemberg mbH
Breitscheidstrasse 4, 70174 Stuttgart/Germany
phone +49-7 11-90 71 54 00, fax +49-7 11-90 71 54 50
email: filmfoerderung@mfg.de, www.mfg.de/film
Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung GmbH
Hainstrasse 17-19, 04109 Leipzig/Germany
phone +49-3 41-26 98 70, fax +49-3 41-2 69 87 65
email: info@mdm-online.de, www.mdm-online.de
MSH Gesellschaft zur Foerderung audiovisueller
Werke in Schleswig-Holstein mbH
Schildstrasse 12, 23552 Luebeck/Germany
phone +49-4 51-7 19 77, fax +49-4 51-7 19 78
email: info@mshfoerderung.de, www.m-s-h.org
nordmedia – Die Mediengesellschaft
Niedersachsen/Bremen mbH
Expo Plaza 1, 30539 Hanover/Germany
phone +49-5 11-1 23 45 60, fax +49-5 11-12 34 56 29
email: info@nordmedia.de, www.nordmedia.de
shareholders & supporters
67
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ASSOCIATION OF GERMAN FILM EXPORTERS
Verband deutscher Filmexporteure e.V. (VDFE) · please contact Lothar Wedel
Tegernseer Landstrasse 75 · 81539 Munich/Germany
phone +49-89-6 42 49 70 · fax +49-89-6 92 09 10 · email: mail@vdfe.de · www.vdfe.de
Action Concept Film- &
Stuntproduktion GmbH
cine aktuell Filmgesellschaft mbH
Media Luna Entertainment GmbH & Co.KG
please contact Ralf Faust, Axel Schaarschmidt
please contact Ida Martins
please contact Wolfgang Wilke
Werdenfelsstrasse 81
81377 Munich/Germany
phone +49-89-7 41 34 30
fax +49-89-74 13 43 16
email: mail@cine-aktuell.de
www.cine-aktuell.de
Hochstadenstrasse 1-3
50674 Cologne/Germany
phone +49-2 21-8 01 49 80
fax +49-2 21-80 14 98 21
email: info@medialuna-entertainment.de
www.medialuna-entertainment.de
Cine-International Filmvertrieb
GmbH & Co. KG
Progress Film-Verleih GmbH
ARRI Media Worldsales
please contact Antonio Exacoustos
please contact Lilli Tyc-Holm, Susanne Groh
Tuerkenstrasse 89
phone +49-89-38 09 12 88
fax +49-89-38 09 16 19
email: aexacoustos@arri.de
www.arri-mediaworldsales.de
Leopoldstrasse 18
phone +49-89-39 10 25
fax +49-89-33 10 89
email: email@cine-international.de
www.cine-international.de
Immanuelkirchstrasse 14b
phone +49-30-24 00 32 25
fax +49-30-24 00 32 22
email: c.jansen@progress-film.de
www.progress-film.de
Atlas International Film GmbH
EEAP Eastern European
Acquisition Pool GmbH
An der Hasenkaule 1-7
50354 Huerth/Germany
phone +49-22 33-50 81 00
fax +49-22 33-50 81 80
email: wolfgang.wilke@actionconcept.com
www.actionconcept.com
please contact Christel Jansen
Road Sales GmbH Mediadistribution
please contact
Stefan Menz, Dieter Menz, Philipp Menz
please contact VDFE
c/o Verband deutscher Filmexporteure e. V.
Tegernseer Landstrasse 75
phone +49-89-6 42 49 70
fax +49-89-6 92 09 10
email: mail@vdfe.de · www.vdfe.de
please contact Alexander van Duelmen
Candidplatz 11
phone +49-89-21 09 75-0
fax +49-89-22 43 32
email: mail@atlasfilm.com
www.atlasfilm.com
Alexanderstrasse 7
phone +49-30-25 76 23 30
fax +49-30-25 76 23 59
email: info@eeap.de
www.eeap.de
ATRIX Films GmbH
Exportfilm Bischoff & Co. GmbH
please contact Beatrix Wesle,
Solveig Langeland
please contact Jochem Strate,
Philip Evenkamp
Aggensteinstrasse 13a
phone +49-89-64 28 26 11
fax +49-89-64 95 73 49
email: atrixfilms@gmx.net
www.atrix-films.com
Isabellastrasse 20, 80798 Munich/Germany
phone +49-89-2 72 93 60
fax +49-89-27 29 36 36
email: exportfilms@exportfilm.de
www.exportfilm.de
SOLA Media GmbH
please contact Solveig Langeland
Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH
please contact Thorsten Schaumann
Bavariafilmplatz 8
phone +49-89-64 99 26 86
fax +49-89-64 99 37 20
Beta Cinema
Dept. of Beta Film GmbH
please contact Andreas Rothbauer
Gruenwalder Weg 28d
82041 Oberhaching/Germany
phone +49-89-67 34 69 80
fax +49-89-6 73 46 98 88
www.betacinema.com
2 · 2007
TELEPOOL GmbH
please contact Wolfram Skowronnek
Sonnenstrasse 21, 80331 Munich/Germany
phone +49-89-55 87 60
fax +49-89-55 87 62 29
german united distributors
Programmvertrieb GmbH
please contact Silke Spahr
Breite Strasse 48-50
50667 Cologne/Germany
phone +49-2 21-92 06 90
fax +49-2 21-9 20 69 69
email: silke.spahr@germanunited.com
Transit Film GmbH
please contact Loy W. Arnold, Mark Gruenthal
Kinowelt International GmbH
Futura Film Weltvertrieb
im Filmverlag der Autoren GmbH
please contact Stelios Ziannis, Anja Uecker
Karl-Tauchnitz-Strasse 10
04107 Leipzig/Germany
phone +49-3 41-35 59 60
fax +49-3 41-35 59 64 19
email: sziannis@kinowelt.de,
auecker@kinowelt.de
www.kinowelt-international.de
Osumstrasse 17, 70599 Stuttgart/Germany
phone +49-7 11-4 79 36 66
fax +49-7 11-4 79 26 58
email: post@sola-media.net
www.sola-media.net
Dachauer Strasse 35
phone +49-89-59 98 85-0
fax +49-89-59 98 85-20
email: loy.arnold@transitfilm.de,
mark.gruenthal@transitfilm.de
www.transitfilm.de
uni media film gmbh
please contact Irene Vogt, Michael Waldleitner
Bavariafilmplatz 7
phone +49-89-59 58 46
fax +49-89-54 50 70 52
email: info@unimediafilm.com
association of german film exporters
69
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Laboratory
Sound
Video Postproduction
Digital Intermediate
Visual Effects
Cinema
Walter Brus
Angela Reedwisch
Phone
+49-(0)89-3809-1772
Phone
+49-(0)89-3809-1574
Fax
+49-(0)89-3809-1773
Fax
+49-(0)89-3809-1773
www.arri.com
www.arri.com
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7
GERMAN
FILMS
PREVIEWS
2007
12 - 15 July 2007 in Cologne
Contact Martin Scheuring at scheuring@german-films.de
GERMAN FILMS: A PROFILE
German Films Service + Marketing is the national information and advisory center for the promotion of German films worldwide. It was established in 1954 under the name Export-Union of
German Cinema as the umbrella association for the Association of
German Feature Film Producers, since 1966 the Association of New
German Feature Film Producers and the Association of German Film
Exporters, and operates today in the legal form of a limited company.
In 2004, new shareholders came on board the Export-Union which
from then on continued operations under its present name: German
Films Service + Marketing GmbH.
Shareholders are the Association of German Feature Film
Producers, the Association of New German Feature Film Producers,
the Association of German Film Exporters, the German Federal Film
Board (FFA), the Association of German Television Producers, the
Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek, the German Documentary
Association, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern and Filmstiftung NRW representing the eight main regional film funds, and the German Short
Film Association.
Members of the advisory board are: Alfred Huermer (chairman),
Peter Dinges, Antonio Exacoustos, Dr. Klaus Schaefer, Ulrike Schauz,
and Michael Weber.
German Films itself has 14 members of staff:
Christian Dorsch, managing director
Mariette Rissenbeek, public relations/deputy managing director
Petra Bader, office manager
Kim Behrendt, PR assistant
Sandra Buchta, project coordinator/documentary film
Myriam Gauff, project coordinator
Simon Goehler, trainee
Christine Harrasser, managing director’s assistant/project coordinator
Angela Hawkins, publications & website editor
Barbie Heusinger, project coordinator/distribution support
Nicole Kaufmann, project coordinator
Michaela Kowal, accounts
Martin Scheuring, project coordinator/short film
Konstanze Welz, project coordinator/television
In addition, German Films has 10 foreign representatives in nine
countries.
German Films’ budget of presently €5.4 million comes from film
export levies, the office of the Federal Government Commissioner
for Culture and the Media, and the FFA. The eight main regional film
funds (FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, FilmFoerderung Hamburg,
Filmstiftung NRW, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MFG BadenWuerttemberg, Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung, MSH SchleswigHolstein, and Nordmedia) make a financial contribution – currently
amounting to €360,000 – towards the work of German Films.
German Films is a founding member of the European Film Promotion,
a network of 27 European film organizations (including Unifrance,
Swiss Films, Austrian Film Commission, Holland Film, among others)
with similar responsibilities to those of German Films. The organization, with its headquarters in Hamburg, aims to develop and realize
joint projects for the presentation of European films on an international level.
2 · 2007
German Films’ range of activities includes:
Close cooperation with major international film festivals, including Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Locarno, San
Sebastian, Montreal, Karlovy Vary, Moscow, Nyon, Shanghai,
Rotterdam, San Francisco, Sydney, Goeteborg, Warsaw,
Thessaloniki, Rome, and Turin, among others
Organization of umbrella stands for German sales companies
and producers at international television and film markets
(Berlin, Cannes, AFM Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Shanghai)
Staging of ”Festivals of German Films“ worldwide (Madrid,
Paris, London, New York, Buenos Aires, Moscow, Copenhagen,
Stockholm, Tokyo, Sydney, Melbourne)
Staging of the ”German Premieres“ industry screenings in New
York, Los Angeles and Rome
Providing advice and information for representatives of the
international press and buyers from the fields of cinema, video,
and television
Providing advice and information for German filmmakers and
press on international festivals, conditions of participation, and
German films being shown
Organization of the annual NEXT GENERATION short film
program, which presents a selection of shorts by students of
German film schools and is premiered every year at Cannes
Publication of informational literature about current German
films and the German film industry (German Films Quarterly),
as well as international market analyses and special festival
brochures
An Internet website (www.german-films.de) offering information about new German films, a film archive, as well as information and links to German and international film festivals
and institutions
Organization of the selection procedure for the German entry
for the OSCAR for Best Foreign Language Film
Collaboration with Deutsche Welle’s DW-TV KINO program
which features the latest German film releases and international productions in Germany
Organization of the ”German Films Previews“ geared toward
European arthouse distributors and buyers of German films
Selective financial Distribution Support for the foreign releases
of German films
On behalf of the association Rendez-vous franco-allemands du
cinéma, organization with Unifrance of the annual GermanFrench film meeting
In association and cooperation with its shareholders, German Films
works to promote feature, documentary, television and short films.
german films: a profile
74
FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES
IMPRINT
Argentina
Gustav Wilhelmi
Ayacucho 495, 2º ”3“
C1026AAA Buenos Aires/Argentina
phone +54 -11- 49 52 15 37
phone/fax +54 -11- 49 51 19 10
email: wilhelmi@german-films.de
France
Cristina Hoffman
33, rue L. Gaillet
94250 Gentilly/France
phone +33-1-40 41 08 33
fax +33-1-49 86 44 18
email: hoffman@german-films.de
Spain
Stefan Schmitz
Pza. del Cordón, 2
28005 Madrid/Spain
phone +34-91-3 66 43 64
fax +34-91-3 65 93 01
email: schmitz@german-films.de
China
Anke Redl
CMM Intelligence
A 606, Tianhai Business Plaza
No. 107 Dongsi Beidajie
Dongcheng District
Beijing 100007/China
phone +86-10-64 07 05 62
fax +86-10-64 07 05 64
email: redl@german-films.de
Italy
Alessia Ratzenberger
Angeli Movie Service
Piazza San Bernardo 108a
00187 Rome/Italy
phone +39-06-48 90 70 75
fax +39-06-4 88 57 97
email: ratzenberger@german-films.de
United Kingdom
Iris Ordonez
37 Arnison Road
East Molesey KT8 9JR/Great Britain
phone +44-20-89 79 86 28
email: ordonez@german-films.de
Eastern Europe
Simone Baumann
L.E. Vision Film- und
Fernsehproduktion GmbH
Koernerstrasse 56
04107 Leipzig/Germany
phone +49-3 41-96 36 80
fax +49-3 41-9 63 68 44
email: baumann@german-films.de
Japan
Tomosuke Suzuki
Nippon Cine TV Corporation
Suite 123, Gaien House
2-2-39 Jingumae, Shibuya-Ku
150-0001 Tokyo/Japan
phone +81-3-34 05 09 16
fax +81-3-34 79 08 69
email: suzuki@german-films.de
German Films Quarterly is published by:
German Films
Service + Marketing GmbH
Herzog-Wilhelm-Strasse 16
phone +49-89-5 99 78 70
fax +49-89-59 97 87 30
email: info@german-films.de
www.german-films.de
USA/West Coast
Corina Danckwerts
Capture Film International, LLC
1726 N. Whitley Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90028/USA
phone +1-3 23-9 62 67 10
fax +1-3 23-9 62 67 22
email: danckwerts@german-films.de
Editor
Production Reports
Contributors for this issue
Translations
Design & Art Direction
Printing Office
ISSN 1614-6387
Credits are not contractual for any
of the films mentioned in this publication.
Financed by
© German Films Service + Marketing GmbH
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of
this publication may be made without written permission.
2 · 2007
USA/East Coast & Canada
Oliver Mahrdt
Hanns Wolters International Inc.
211 E 43rd Street, #505
New York, NY 10017/USA
phone +1-2 12-7 14 01 00
fax +1-2 12-6 43 14 12
email: mahrdt@german-films.de
Angela Hawkins
Martin Blaney, Simon Kingsley
Martin Blaney, Robert Gray, Simon Kingsley
Lucinda Rennison
www.werner-schauer.de
ESTA DRUCK GMBH,
Obermuehlstrasse 90, 82398 Polling/Germany
the office of the Federal Government Commissioner
for Culture and the Media
Printed on ecological, unchlorinated paper.
Cover Photo
Scene from “The Edge of Heaven”
(photo © corazón international)
foreign representatives · imprint
75
IN CANNES 2007
GERMAN PAVILION · #125 · INTERNATIONAL VILLAGE
GERMAN FILMS · phone +33-(0)4-93 99 86 00 · fax +33-(0)4-93 99 86 21 · www.german-films.de
FOCUS GERMANY · phone +33-(0)4-93 99 85 54 · fax +33-(0)4-93 99 85 71 · www.focusgermany.de

Am Ende kommen Touristen

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