presents Director Hans Steinbichler Screenplay Josephin Thayenthal and Robert Thayenthal Starring Juliane Köhler, Hannelore Elsner, Karoline Herfurth, Niklas Kohrt, David Kross, Rüdiger Vogler, Matthias Brandt, Fritzi Haberlandt a.o. Production die film gmbh in coproduction with Sam Film Producer Uli Aselmann Supported by Deutscher Filmförderfonds (DFFF), Filmstiftung NRW, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern (FFF), Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (MBB), Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA), Wirtschaftliche Filmförderung Mecklenburg- Vorpommern, Beauftragter für Kultur und Medien (BKM) with the participation of WDR, ARD Degeto, BR and Arte CAST Sofia Schleier Juliane Köhler Marga Baumanis Hannelore Elsner Marga Baumanis (young) Karoline Herfurth Juris Baumanis Niklas Kohrt Osvalds Kalnins (young) David Kross Osvald Kalnins Rüdiger Vogler Lorenz Schleier Matthias Brandt 2 For further information: Beta Cinema Press, Dorothee Stoewahse, Tel: + 49 89 67 34 69 15, Mobile: + 49 170 63 84 627 [email protected] , www.betacinema.com . Pictures and filmclips available on ftp.betafilm.com , username: ftppress01, password: 8uV7xG3tB CREW Director Hans Steinbichler Screenplay Josephin Thayenthal, Robert Thayenthal Producer Uli Aselmann, die film gmbh Co-Producer Ewa Karlström, Andreas Ulmke-Smeaton, Sam Film with the participation of WDR - Anke Krause, Gebhard Henke ARD Degeto - Jörn Klamroth BR - Bettina Reitz, Cornelia Ackers Arte - Barbara Häbe, Andreas Schreitmüller Cinematography Bella Halben Stage Design Evi Stiebler Costumes Katharina Ost Make-Up Waldemar Pokromski, Anette Keiser Music Niki Reiser TECHNICAL DATA Format: 35mm, color Sound: Dolby Digital Length (in meters): 2836 Running time: 99 Min. Language: German CONTACT INTERNATIONAL PRESS: Beta Cinema, Dorothee Stoewahse Tel: + 49 89 67 34 69 15 Mobile: + 49 170 63 84 627 [email protected] CONTACT WORLD SALES: Beta Cinema, Dirk Schuerhoff/Andreas Rothbauer Tel: + 49 89 67 34 69 80 Fax: + 49 89 67 34 69 888 [email protected] www.betacinema.com 3 For further information: Beta Cinema Press, Dorothee Stoewahse, Tel: + 49 89 67 34 69 15, Mobile: + 49 170 63 84 627 [email protected] , www.betacinema.com . Pictures and filmclips available on ftp.betafilm.com , username: ftppress01, password: 8uV7xG3tB BAVARIAN FILM AWARD - Jury’s Statement of 14 January 2011 “Producer Uli Aselmann has realized a most extraordinary film with his production 'Promising the Moon,' which was stunningly shot in Munich, Wuppertal, Heiligendamm, Berlin and Riga. The sensitive direction of Hans Steinbichler and his outstanding cast have given rise to an intricate filmic narrative. It takes the protagonists and, with them, the viewers deep into the past and unfolds in impressive images a family drama that has been secretly slumbering for decades and that affects and weighs upon the lives of all concerned. Uli Aselmann has produced a film that is as fascinating as it is compelling in each and every detail. It not only meets with the highest artistic demands, but also casts its spell upon the public." PRESS NOTE After such successful productions as “Hierankl” and “Winter Journey”, director Hans Steinbichler takes a Journey back into the 1930s and 1990s in his new film. In various historical time frames, he weaves the family history of Marga – played by Hannelore Elsner and with Karoline Herfurth as the "young Marga" – and her daughter Sofia, played by Juliane Köhler. One woman, Marga, is losing her memory and, thus, herself. Only recollections of past times keep flaring up bright and clear and reveal a Marga who is completely different than the person she seemed to be throughout her life. The other woman, Sofia, seizes upon Marga's memories in order to find out the truth about her own past and thus about herself. Against the background of the life stories of these two women, PROMISING THE MOON movingly treats the power of love, the impossibility of forgetting, and the power of forgiving. Alongside Juliane Köhler, Hannelore Elsner and Karoline Herfurth, Hans Steinbichler's top-notch cast also includes David Kross, Niklas Kohrt, Rüdiger Vogler, Matthias Brandt and Fritzi Haberlandt. SHORT SYNOPSIS PROMISING THE MOON is a story about the power of love and forgiveness. Marga (Hannelore Elsner) has never shown many feelings towards her daughter Sofia (Juliane Köhler). Now, however, she reveals fears, wounds and a deep longing for her long-dead husband Juris. She loses herself more and more in her forgetfulness and suddenly craves tenderness like a child. An unaccustomed situation for Sofia, who, after years of almost no contact with her mother, unexpectedly finds herself having to take care of her. A difficult situation, too: Marga can sometimes be brusque and sometimes funny; she lives now in the moment, now far away. As though yearning to be free of her memories, Marga begins relating stories of things that happened many years ago. Things that Sofia has never heard of. Prompted by a faint suspicion that the secrets of Marga’s past are important to understanding her own past, Sofia sets off for Riga with her mother at the spur of the moment. This is where Marga grew up and where she married Juris. But the more Sofia learns about her mother, the less certain she becomes about her own identity. As the past becomes clearer, it also emerges that what Marga had told her about their past together was nothing more than a story carved out of thin air… 4 For further information: Beta Cinema Press, Dorothee Stoewahse, Tel: + 49 89 67 34 69 15, Mobile: + 49 170 63 84 627 [email protected] , www.betacinema.com . Pictures and filmclips available on ftp.betafilm.com , username: ftppress01, password: 8uV7xG3tB SYNOPSIS “Nothing is where it should be” – and that includes Marga Baumanis (Hannelore Elsner). One day, during a meeting, her daughter Sofia (Juliane Köhler) is called to the phone: her mother has left her nursing home without permission and is now in a psychiatric day clinic in Wuppertal, where she must be picked up. Sofia's relationship with her mother being somewhat tense, her first reaction is denial. But there's no way around it. Sofia must act, and her husband Lorenz (Matthias Brandt) also makes this clear. So she sets out from Berlin to Wuppertal… Sofia is horrified when she sees her mother: how she lies there, how she looks at her… In her confused state, Marga reveals a yearning for love and closeness that Sofia had never before seen in her mother. And while Marga speaks of things that Sofia doesn't understand, Sofia suspects that there is something in her mother's life that weighs so heavily upon her that she wants to break free of it. But what secret has Marga been hiding all these years? On their way back from the clinic, Marga keeps losing herself in her recollections, reacts unpredictably, aggressively, or like a small child. Again and again, events from her youth keep appearing before her mind's eye: her wedding with Juris (Niklas Kohrt), whom she loved above all else and married against her father's will; how happy she was, how carefree her life was. But the Joyous memories are followed by darker ones that inspire fear and which Marga vehemently tries to repress. But to no avail… Sofia, who has always suffered from her mother's lack of warmth and affection, has no time to adJust to the new situation. But she wants to understand, and does everything in her power to help Marga. In Berlin, Sofia discovers in Marga's luggage old photos which she had never seen before. They are pictures of her parents in their youth, from their former home in Latvia – pictures from happier times. And there is also a photo that shows her father Juris next to a man that Sofia cannot identify. Marga reacts violently when Sofia asks her about this, but at least Sofia learns that this man was a friend of the family whose name is Osvalds Kalnins (David Kross / Rüdiger Vogler). Almost as a foreboding, Sofia senses that she must go to Latvia with her mother. Perhaps she can help Marga regain control of her memories. And, she secretly hopes, perhaps the Journey will help her, Sofia, to better understand her mother and learn more about her family. Upon arriving in Riga, they find themselves in the midst of the turmoil of the "Singing Revolution." But as they pass the street blockades in Riga, other images surface before Marga's eyes, from the time of the Russian occupation of Latvia in the 1940s. She is beside herself and wants to flee. Sofia's only hope is Osvalds Kalnins, her father’s friend, who lives in J ūrmala, an idyllic town directly on the Baltic Sea. This is where Marga grew up and met her husband Juris, and where she spent the first years of the war. All that Sofia knows from this time is that her parents fled J ūrmala to Germany during the war. They find Osvalds in the villa in which Marga spent her childhood. He is overwhelmed to learn who Sofia is: after all, Marga had written him after the war to inform him that Juris and Sofia had died in an air-raid bombing. Sofia is upset over this denial of her existence, but suspects there are reasons for this which Marga has always kept silent about. It is clear to her that Jürmala is the key to Marga's past and that Osvalds is part of the mystery surrounding Marga. 5 For further information: Beta Cinema Press, Dorothee Stoewahse, Tel: + 49 89 67 34 69 15, Mobile: + 49 170 63 84 627 [email protected] , www.betacinema.com . Pictures and filmclips available on ftp.betafilm.com , username: ftppress01, password: 8uV7xG3tB Sofia plunges deeper and deeper into Marga's past in order to uncover this secret. It will take her far back into the 1930s, to a young and exuberant Marga, her husband Juris, his friend Osvalds and to a woman named Iewa (Juta Vanaga / Dace Eversa) whom Sofia had never heard about.