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Scene from “THE FAREWELL” Kino Andrea Willson Producer A Portrait of THE DETAILS« »SUCCESS ISIN the AcademyAward for Candidates German the On theHistoryof A LONE VICTOR THE TINDRUM – VASILISA by ElenaShatalova by Roehler Oskar GO TO PLACE NO by DitoTsintsadze LOST KILLERS Schütte by Jan THE FAREWELL International FilmFestival: At theCannes 2/2000 OF GERMANCINEMA EXPORT-UNION Studio Babelsberg Studios Art Department Production Postproduction

Studio Babelsberg GmbH August-Bebel-Str. 26-53 D-14482 Potsdam Tel +49 331 72-0 Fax +49 331 72-12135 [email protected] www.studiobabelsberg.com TV SPIELFILM unterstützt die Aktion Shooting Stars der European Filmpromotion

www.tvspielfilm.de KINO 2/2000

German Films at the 6 The Tin Drum – A Lone Victor 28 Cannes Festival On the history of the German candidates for the Academy Award 28 Abschied for Best Foreign Language Film THE FAREWELL Jan Schütte 11 Stations Of The Crossing 29 Lost Killers Portrait of Dito Tsintsadze 30 Die Unberührbare 12 Souls At The Lost-And-Found NO PLACE TO GO Portrait of Jan Schütte Oskar Roehler 31 Vasilisa 14 Success Is In The Details Elena Shatalova Portrait of Producer Andrea Willson

16 Bavarians At The Gate Bavaria Film International

17 An International Force Atlas International

18 KINO news

22 In Production 22 Die Blutgräfin 34 German Classics Ulrike Ottinger 22 Commercial Men 34 Es geschah am 20. Juli Lars Kraume – Aufstand gegen 23 Edelweisspiraten IT HAPPENED ON JULY 20TH Niko von Glasow-Brücher G. W. Pabst 24 Enthüllung einer Ehe 35 Goya Konrad Wolf 24 Martha 36 Heimat Sandra Nettelbeck 25 Pissed And Proud Connie Walther 26 Die Polizistin Andreas Dresen 26 Was tun, wenn’s brennt? Gregor Schnitzler 27 Willy, der Stummfilmpianist Ilona Ziok C ONTENTS

50 Höre nie auf anzufangen – 38 New German Films Der Ufa-Star Carola Höhn NEVER STOP BEGINNING – 38 A Tale Of Two Cities – THE UFA-STAR CAROLA HÖHN Eine Erzählung von zwei Städten Robert Fischer Manfred Wilhelms 51 Honolulu 39 alaska.de Uschi Ferstl, Florian Gallenberger, Saskia Jell, Esther Gronenborn Vanessa Jopp, Matthias Lehmann, Beryl 40 Apokalypse 99 – Anatomie Schennen, Sandra Schmidt eines Amokläufers 52 Kasachstan Lady Dmitri Astrachan LADY OF KAZAKHSTAN 41 Der Bebuquin – Rendezvous Dmitri Astrachan mit Carl Einstein 53 Die Markus Family BEBUQUIN: A RENDEZVOUS WITH THE MARKUS FAMILY CARL EINSTEIN Elfi Mikesch Lilo Mangelsdorff 54 Paul Is Dead 42 Deeply Hendrik Handloegten Sheri Elwood 55 Private Lies 43 Ein Mensch wie Dieter – Sherry Hormann Golzower 56 Russlands Wunderkinder A GUY LIKE DIETER – RUSSIA’S WONDER CHILDREN NATIVE OF GOLZOW Irene Langemann Barbara Junge, Winfried Junge 57 The Unscarred 44 Erotic Tales: Buddy Giovinazzo Die Nachtschwester 58 Vergiss Amerika THE NIGHT NURSE FORGET AMERICA Bernd Heiber Vanessa Jopp Kimono 59 Wotenick Axel Kalhorn 45 Fernes Land Pa-Isch 60 Zoom – It’s Always FAR AWAY COUNTRY PA-ISCH About Getting Closer Rainer Simon Otto Alexander Jahrreiss 46 Gangster Volker Einrauch 62 Foreign Representatives 47 Gespräch im Gebirg DIALOGUE IN THE MOUNTAINS 63 Film-Exporters Mattias Caduff 48 Gran Paradiso 66 Imprint Miguel Alexandre 49 Havanna, mi amor Uli Gaulke On the history of the German candidates for the THE TIN DRUM – A LONE VICTOR Günther Grass, David Bennent, Volker Schlöndorff David Günther Grass, Bennent, Volker

It could have been a good omen: at the first Oscar ceremony on How much sought-after the award has since become can be seen 16 May 1929, a German was also among the prize-winners: Emil by the enthusiasm of producers and filmmakers when there is Jannings was named Best Actor for his roles in Josef von at least a slight chance of having a whiff of the great prize: a Sternberg’s The Last Command and Victor Fleming’s nomination in itself is regarded as an enormous success. What is The Way Of All Flesh. characteristic here is the widely held linguistic vagueness where the naming of a film by its country of origin is equated with a But the ”Academy Award“ remained exclusively the US film ”nomination“. The bitterness of the struggle between productions industry’s affair for some while; the Oscar for the best foreign before one film is selected as the national entry was illustrated language film has only existed since 1947. It is probable that this by the controversy over 's film Europa opening up seemed a bit dubious at first for those responsible: Europa (Hitlerjunge Salomon) which was produced by until the mid-1950s, there weren’t any proposals from other . More about this film later. countries or any nominations; the Oscar was presented, so to speak, without any advance warning by the board of the The naming of the Oscar candidate from the German productions Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). is undertaken by the Export-Union of German Cinema. The basis for this decision are the respective films submitted by the The present award procedure has existed since 1956: every producers. A committee, which is annually convened by the country can name a film, and a committee of the Academy then Export-Union, selects a candidate from these submissions in a nominates five titles from all of the proposals for the final round. secret sitting, and this title is then submitted to the Academy. The German productions (see box) have come off rather poorly How far artistic criteria compete with commercial arguments since then - and not only in comparison with France or Italy. in the selection procedure or whether it’s mainly strategic The Danes or Dutch have won the Oscar more often than the manoeuvring vis-a-vis Hollywood that gain the upper hand Germans. depends on the composition of the respective jury.

6 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

German candidates for the Oscar 1984 Morgen in Alabama Man Under Suspicion (R: Norbert Kückelmann) R: = Director · DDR = GDR 1985 Bittere Ernte (R: Agnieszka Holland) 1986 Männer Men (R: Doris Dörrie) Nominatinos by the AMPAS in bold type 1987 Der Himmel über (R: ) 1988 (R: ) 1989 Das Spinnennetz Spider’s Web (R: ) Features 1990 Das schreckliche Mädchen (R: Michael Verhoeven) 1991 – 1956 Der Hauptmann von Köpenick 1992 Schtonk ! (R: Helmut Dietl) The Captain from Köpenick 1993 Justiz Justice (R: Hans W. Geissendörfer) (R: Helmut Käutner) 1994 Das Versprechen The Promise (R: Margarethe von Trotta) 1957 Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam 1995 Schlafes Bruder (R: ) The Devil Came At Night (R: Robert Siodmak) 1996 Der Totmacher (R: Romuald Karmakar) 1958 Helden / Arms and the Man 1997 Jenseits der Stille Beyond Silence (R: Caroline Link) (R: ) 1998 Lola rennt (R: ) 1959 Die Brücke The Bridge 1999 Aimeé und Jaguar (R: Max Färberböck) (R: Bernhard Wicki) 1960 Faust (R: Peter Gorski) 1961 Das Wunder des Malachias (Bernhard Wicki) 1962 – 1963 – Documentaries (feature-length and short) 1964 – KF = short 1965 Es (R: Ulrich Schamoni) 1966 Der junge Törless Young Torless 1959 Serengeti darf nicht sterben (R: Volker Schlöndorff) (R: Bernhard Grzimek) 1967 Tätowierung (R: ) 1961 Kahl (KF, R: Haro Senft) 1968 Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: ratlos 1962 Alvorada – Aufbruch in Brasilien Artists Under The Big Top: Disorientated Alvorada – Brazil's Changing Face (R: Hugo Niebeling) (R: ) 1970 Erinnerungen an die Zukunft Chariots Of The Gods 1969 Jagdszenen aus Niederbayern (R: Harald Reinl) Hunting Scenes From Bavaria 1970 Time is Running (KF, R: Horst Dallmayr, Robert Menegoz) (R: ) 1972 The Silent Revolution (P: Eckehard Munck) 1970 o.k. (R: Michael Verhoeven) 1972 Hundertwassers Regentag Hunderwasser's Rainy Day 1971 Das Schloß The Castle (R: Rudolf Noelte) (KF, R: Peter Schamoni) 1972 Trotta (R: Johannes Schaaf) 1973 Schlacht um Berlin Battle Of Berlin (R: Bengt von zur Mühlen) 1973 Der Fußgänger The Pedestrian 1975 Millions of Years Ahead of Man (KF, R: Manfred Baier) (R: ) 1980 Der gelbe Stern The Yellow Star - The Persecution of the Jews Der Dritte (R: Egon Günther, DDR) in Europe 1993-1945 (R: Dieter Hildebrandt) 1974 Einer von uns beiden 1984 Marlene (R: Maximilian Schell) (R: ) 1999 Buena Vista Social Club (R: Wim Wenders) 1975 Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser (R: ) 1976 Ansichten eines Clowns The Clown (R: Vojtech Jasny) Jakob der Lügner Jacob The Liar Short Film (winners) (R: , DDR) 1977 Der amerikanische Freund 1989 Balance (R: Wolfgang Lauenstein) (R: Wim Wenders) 1993 Schwarzfahrer Black Rider (R: Pepe Danquart) Mama, ich lebe (R: Konrad Wolf, DDR) 1996 Quest (R: Thomas Stellmach) 1978 Die gläserne Zelle The Glass Cell (R: Hans W. Geissendörfer) 1979 Die Blechtrommel The Tin Drum (R: Volker Schlöndorff - Academy Award!) Student Academy Awards (winners) 1980 Fabian (R: Wolf Gremm) Die Verlobte The Fiancee 1988 Schmetterlinge (R: Wolfgang Becker) (R: Günther Rücker, Günter Reisch, DDR) 1994 Abgeschminkt Making Up! (R: Katja von Garnier) 1981 Lili Marleen (R: ) 1997 Ein einfacher Auftrag An Ordinary Mission 1982 (R: Werner Herzog) (R: Raymond Boy) 1983 Die flambierte Frau A Woman In Flames 1998 Rochade (R: Thorsten Schmidt) (R: Robert Van Ackeren) 1999 Kleingeld (Marc-Andreas Bochert) Der Aufenthalt (R: Frank Beyer, DDR)

A New Generation year with The Nights Of Cabiria (against The Devil Came At Night/Nachts wenn der Teufel kam), Looking back at the history of these candidates shows that, while Jacques Tati won with against Wirth’s it may not have resulted in any Oscars in the first four years, there Arms and the Man (Helden), and when Bernhard was a continuous run of nominations. The final decisions by the Wicki lost with The Bridge (Die Brücke) against Academy are also plausible from today’s standpoint: they prefer- Marcel Camus’ Orfeu Negro, he shared this fate with red over The Captain of Kopenick (Der Ingmar Bergman who only received a nomination for Hauptmann von Köpenick), Fellini also won the following Wild Strawberries.

7 On the history of the German candidates for the

young cinema: Sergei Bondarchuk also triumphed with War And Peace over Truffaut’s Stolen Kisses. It was only with a comparitively ”conservative“ film like Maximilian Schell’s The Pedestrian (Der Fuss- gänger), which was also a subject of controversy among German critics, that German cinema managed at least to attract a nomination again. That was in 1973, and at this point, Schell’s international reputation probably played a considerable role in the decision.

Hannelore Hoger in »Artists Under The Big Top: Disorientated« Hoger in »Artists Hannelore Under The Big Top: In the second half of the seven- ties, there was an improvement in the reputation of the ”“. Newsweek had even published a cover story about the ”German Film Boom“. Against this background, the nominations for Geissen- A long barren period then began for the German cinema which dörfer’s Highsmith adaptation The Glass Cell (Die gläser- was also lamented at home. It still seems surprising from today’s ne Zelle) and the award to Schlöndorff’s Grass adaptation standpoint how soon the works of the ”New German Cinema“ The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel) and producer Franz established themselves among the official entries for the Oscar Seitz were overdue; however, it is worth noting that both of from the Federal Republic of – what’s more, this was at these productions were based on pre-existent literary works by a time when its young spokesmen were still complaining bitterly world-famous authors. Seitz has another explanation: "Perhaps about the power of the established producers. Obviously, there is a tendency for how the films should look, that they be German cinema, though, had lost so much reputation on an inter- interesting for people over there. I have the feeling that a little on national level in the mid-1960s that, in 1966, for example, the exotic side is always in order. The nomination which The Schlöndorff’s Young Törless (Der junge Törless) lost Boat received, for example, that was also a rather exotic film. out to the competition from Lelouch (A Man and a And The Tin Drum was an exotic film in any case. And The Woman won the Foreign Language Oscar), Petrovic (Three), Pedestrian was, well, halfway exotic." and Kawalerowicz (Pharao) and was not nominated. Exploiting Chances Two years later, the German committee made a rather courage- ous decision by sending Alexander Kluge’s Artists While the German cinema of the eighties found no favour what- Under The Big Top: Disorientated (Die Artisten in soever with the Academy, the nineties, on the other hand, bro- der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos) into the race. The film must ught a clear upward trend with no less than three nominations. have also made the gentlemen in Hollywood feel disorientated – All in all, and don't let us pretend otherwise, this is still far from at that time they were showing little understanding for a being a success story, and naturally poses a few questions; were, perhaps, the wrong films being sent from Germany to compete? I can only think of a few titles where I could imagine that they might have had better chances of a nomination than those selected in a particular year: The Sudden Wealth Of The Poor People Of Kombach (Der plötzliche Reichtum der armen Leute von Kombach), Wenders’ (Im Lauf der Zeit) and Petersen’s The Boat (). Just these last two examples show the dubious nature of such hypotheti- Helmut Griem and Brigitte Fossey in ”The Glass Cell“ cal considerations: Wenders was passed over in 1987 with Wings Of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin), and still didn’t win an Oscar with Buena Vista Social Club which didn't have to be officially proposed by a German jury as a documentary since other regulati- ons apply for that category.

8 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

Petersen managed to obtain six nominations, but still didn't get an Oscar despite The Boat being able to participate in the competi- tion outside of the ”Best Foreign Language Film“ category as a result of its official theatrical release in the USA (the regulati- ons stipulate a release within the city limits of Los Angeles!).

Reactions Europa« Hofschneider in »Europa Marco of the Candidates Artur Brauner and Agnieszka Holland weren’t able to profit from this second chance either; in his vehement criticism of the jury convened by the Export-Union, there had been the assertion that the decisi- on not to submit the film to Hollywood had robbed it of a sure chance of winning. Yet the film didn't even manage to obtain a nomination after the release of (Hitlerjunge Salomon) in the from our business simply take more notice of you if you’ve been US cinemas when the decision then lay with the Academy and lucky to be nominated.“ was no longer with a German committee. In retrospect, one can only really ask here whether the controversy might have been so What use is the nomination? polemical and loaded with personal suspicions that year if the German jury had at least agreed upon on another film rather than Caroline Link is convinced: ”The nomination certainly helped. deciding not to submit any film at all to the Academy. The film was then bought by Miramax, and other countries then – put it this way – looked a bit more closely and showed an The Oscar itself is, in the end, probably the only thing of major interest in the film. I don’t know whether the Oscar nomination economic interest. If the German candidate – who is made public did anything for me in Germany. It was more significant that immediately after the decision – is not rewarded with anything Beyond Silence did so well in the cinemas. In America, less than a nomination, it then suffers – at least subliminally – the though, the nomination can have an enormous effect. Just the fact stigma of defeat. Hans W. Geissendörfer confirms this: that one has been nominated gives one an added bonus with cer- ”Of course, it is a defeat if a film is submitted from Germany and tain studio executives and producers, and people who initially doesn’t then get a nomination. That happened to me with Justiz, wouldn’t have seen Beyond Silence perhaps have a closer even though we had a Golden Globe nomination.“ look to see whether they shouldn’t now buy the film after all, whether they should be interested in the director. That’s what The nomination itself nevertheless represents temporary I find fascinating about America that they are all terribly hard- admission into the magic circle – even if one then doesn’t finally working and don’t want to miss a talent at any cost. So you really make it into the ranks of the chosen. Tin Drum producer get an awful lot of appointments. You get to meet everyone, Franz Seitz says: ”The nomination isn’t useless, but it isn’t dash from one lunch to the next, to some appointments at any substantial help for a film. At least, one receives a certificate. The Oscar means that a film gets known as far as China and, at home, one consequently receives such an enormous amount of promotion because one is passed round from one television pro- gramme to the next. The real nomination, being in the last five, that is victory in itself, that’s clear. There are many great actors in America who have been in the final five umpteen times and never (photo © H. G. Pflaum) Petersen Wolfgang got the Oscar. So, when that hap- pens to you the fourth or fifth time, it can appear to be some- thing of an insult“.

Geissendörfer sees his nomi- nation for The Glass Cell positively: ”It opens doors, but is a long way from doing the same to wallets. But it was often a help for me at home and abroad, parti- cularly in America. The people

9 On the history of the German candidates …

Lola Run no nominated, why was Aimee & Jaguar passed over? Christoph Ott, Senator Film, points out: ”The disappointment was great especially since we had a good chances after the nomination for the Golden Globe.“ However, Ott doesn’t see any fundamental aversions to German films within the ranks of the Academy: ”The Foreign Language Committee has to have seen all of the nominated films, i.e. over 40 films in a few weeks. Thus, the number of people who can decide on these nominations is small. I have perso- nally met some of the members and all I can say is that these people are real film freaks. I couldn’t determine any problems or difficulties with German films. Sometimes the subjects of German Caroline Link and team at a reception for Link and team at a reception the nominees hosted by AMPAS Caroline films are too German and the style too conventional.“

studios, get to see the people, talk with them in a very relaxed The enormous promotional effect of the Oscar basically functions and interested way. I find that really great. And that's what this only for feature films. The situation for documentary and short nomination opened up for me, so to speak.” films has become more difficult in the past decades. In the fifties, productions like (Disney), Serengeti However, Caroline Link remembers the ceremony with a darf nicht sterben (Grzimek) or The Silent World healthy dose of scepticism: ”It’s very clear that at the Oscar (Cousteau) received even more tail wind for their release in the ceremony and in all this hullabaloo around the Oscar the cinemas from the Academy Award, even several shorts (A Time Americans are really only interested in American cinema and Out Of War by Denis and Terry Sanders or Moonbird in celebrating themselves and Hollywood. You admittedly have by John Hubley) were also distributed as Oscar winners in wonderful events organised by the Academy. Lunch with Germany. Since then, documentaries and shorts have for a long American directors, panel discussions, but one has the sneaking time become film industry ”also rans“; in most cases, the feeling that there is polite interest, if one asks if they want to see Academy Award is not even enough to help the winners to a the film or if they are interested, among colleagues, then there’s a theatrical release. real reserve after all. In reality, they are focused very much on themselves there. And that's how you feel at the ceremony.” In 1999, the German cinemas witnessed an exception: Buena Vista Social Club by Wim Wenders who also received an The disappointment of a producer or director proposed by Oscar nomination for this documentary; however, this was not Germany, who has been passed over in the nominations, is enough for a win, even though the film was tipped as the understandable because among those who get through to the favourite. The other two nominated works from Germany, the next stage there are always films which are ”not any better“. short Kleingeld by Marc-Andreas Bochert, who had Consequently, the parameters are never really clear and the received the Student Oscar for Kleingeld in 1999, and the ani- question regularly crops up as to whether other criteria not mation film 3 Misses by Paul Driesen came back empty-han- connected with the film are coming into play. Why was Run ded. Whoever the German candidates lost out to – whether deserved or not – one might cau- tiously say that it doesn’t appear cinema from Germany enjoys any great popularity with the ladies and gentlemen of AMPAS.

Unfortunately, only very little public attention has been paid in Germany to the Student Oscar which has been awarded early each summer since 1981.

Scene from »Buena Vista Social Club« Scene from However the young generation of German filmmakers give reason for some hope here since they have already won five times … most recently, with three wins in a row! For the time being, though, the award seems, above all, to ease the path into the future for those winners wanting to have a career in Hollywood. But that is another story. H. G. Pflaum

10 Portrait of Ulrike Ottinger

Starting her visual arts career in and (painting, works on paper, photography, performance), Ulrike Ottinger’s commitment to film took off with her move to Berlin, that archaeological site of political and psychic projections which served her through the 80s as a major source of inspiration for her exploration of the cinematic medium. The deconstructive momentum of Berlin is reflected in the difference Ottinger’s films make. In her films difference does not stop short between units or unities (those of cultural, national, or sexual identity, for example). In the encounter with the other, which these films explore, self finds itself, beside itself, crossed with and crossing through the other. And that’s the difference that sets Ottinger’s cinema apart.

Her film credits are: Laokoon und Söhne (short, 1972/73), Berlin Fieber – Wolf Vostell (short, 1973), Die Betörung der blauen Matrosen (short, 1975), Madame X – Eine absolute Herrscherin (1977), Bildnis einer Trinkerin – Aller jamais retour (1979), Freak Orlando (1981), Dorian Gray im Spiegel der Boulevardpresse (1984), China. Die Künste – Der Alltag (1985), Superbia – Der Stolz (short, 1986), Usinimage (short, 1987), Johanna d’Arc of Mongolia (1988), Countdown (1990), Taiga (1992), Exil Shanghai (1997). STATIONS OF THE CROSSING

Ottinger’s films explore a beginning with the printing world of difference defined press, Ottinger makes her by the tension and transfer movies at the stations of the between settled and nomadic crossing of the legible with the cultures. Ottinger’s sense of irreducibly visual, of narrative this cultural transfer informs with tableau. her documentary and her feature films. It is what marks Her first feature, Madame the stations of her encounter X – Eine absolute with the other, whether re- Herrscherin, prefigures all cognizably exotic or simply her subsequent movies. It but subtly unpredictable. made Ottinger a sensational Nomadic cultures – archaic or figure of controversy. This modern – occupy a margin ostensible „lesbian-feminist where reality, the future, or pirate film“ in turn challenged the other uncontrollably certain assumptions of feminist begins. Metamorphosis and politics by keeping its focus allegory are, accordingly, fixed on the troubling doubling hallmarks of Ottinger’s of gender. Her next feature, visual language. Bildnis einer Trinkerin, which Jonathan Rosen- From her prehistory as visual baum judged in 1983 artist Ottinger brought to her to be “an uncategorizable take on film the principle masterpiece so sui generis of collage and an eye trained for that influences seem hardly composition. But what in turn relevant at all to the synthesis drew her to film is that achieved“, established her it is constitutively a medium reputation as one of the of juxtaposition which can Ulrike Ottinger leading European art thus best convey the present cinema directors. tensions, for example, between parameters of the historical and of the modern, between Bildnis einer Trinkerin is the first part of Ottinger’s 1980s stationary and moving perspectives, between global trilogy, which continued with Freak Orlando and concluded panoramas and the miniature. Reflecting the status of with Dorian Gray im Spiegel der Boulevardpresse. The the medium as the high or late point of developments Berlin setting holds these films together. In Ottinger’s allegorical

11 Portrait of Ulrike Ottinger

reading or rendering, Berlin’s ready-made status as most ancient bursts out into celebration of radically diverse and overlapping or primal city of our more recent past and most traumatic cultures well before the train has been stopped in its tracks history becomes visible in the architectural settings of the city’s and the ‚documentary‘ section has opend up in its place. latent history as a narrative of episodes cutting through time Johanna d’Arc of Mongolia serves as reminder that it is and space. Inherent in this allegorical procedure is the meta- impossible or pointless to separate Ottinger’s fiction films morphosis required to make manifest the artist’s reading of from her documentaries (which now seem to comprise, as urban relics. This forms the documentary subject of Usinimage, though Johanna d’Arc of Mongolia served as a model, which shows the Before and After pictures of Ottinger‘s the second half of her œuvre). cinematographic modifications of the Berlin locations. In Countdown the filmmaker expands her approach to yet Ottinger’s next two projects, however, will return to the another kind of documentary perspective: With a sort of fiction film genre. The Bloodcountess (Die Blutgräfin, ”caméra stylo“ she registers for ten days leading up to the cf. page 22) Ottinger’s ironic foray into the vampire film, will unification of German currencies the political changes after be set on such precursors as ’s The 1989 in the every day life of Berlin, in the margins at the center Fearless Vampire Killers and Harry Kümel’s of the epoch-making ending of the Cold War. Daughters of Darkness. Diamond Dance, Ottinger’s largest project to date, juxtaposes the Shoah and the AIDS If we consider Ottinger’s regular collaboration with actress crisis within a melting plot featuring the international diamond Delphine Seyrig as a point of cohesion, then Johanna business, the underworld of Mickey Marx, and a musical mix of d’Arc of Mongolia (which, to add not only my own judgement klezmer and jazz. as an update to Rosenbaum’s 1983 call, is truly one of the masterpieces of world cinema) could be seen to overlap Ottinger’s cinema, which breaks for one station before moving with the trilogy. To mark this station of the journey, the film on to the next one, and in this move crosses the one with the juxtaposes the fictional film medium with that of documentary other, is the kind of journey that can only keep on beginning, film-making. again and again.

But the seeming split down the middle of the film between the film artifact contained in the train crossing Siberia and the on- Laurence A. Rickels is the author of a location account of the sojourn of the abducted train passengers study of Ulrike Ottinger’s films entitled in the wide open spaces of the Mongolian tribe’s domain does ”The Autobiography of Cinema“. not subsume all the differences Ottinger has set into play. Just as the title of the film speaks in three tongues, so the European train of association barely contains itself, but already

Portrait of Jan Schütte SOULS AT THE LOST-AND-FOUND

Home is not a place, but a state of mind in the five feature films auteurs like Wim Wenders, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and seven documentaries that German director Jan Schütte has and Werner Herzog, who set out in the early seventies to made over the past two decades. The people in his films, both create fiercely individual, original films that laid claim to being art real-life and fictitious characters, tend to travel – they are restless rather than entertainment, Schütte has inherited the urge to tell souls, wanderers and underdogs, people adrift at the edges of only the stories close to his heart; at the same time, he shares the society who are searching for a meaning in their lives. desire to reach – and entertain – a broad audience with Germany’s younger generation of filmmakers, including Tom It is their small, inconspicuous fates that fascinate the filmmaker, Tykwer, Sönke Wortmann and Katja von Garnier. and it is the spaces they tentatively occupy that he patiently explo- res. Jan Schütte is Germany’s guy for the souls at the lost-and- Unfortunately, his in-between-status has prevented the modest, found. “Somehow, it is those topics that I end up dealing with,” quiet Schütte from achieving the public acclaim (and success) he Schütte says. “Yet to me, they are all separate stories.” Both in deserves – at least in Germany. As for the rest of the world, well, terms of his age – the tall, soft-spoken director with a shock of that is a very different matter. Schütte’s films have probably won graying hair is 42 years old - and in his approach to directing, more awards at festivals around the world than those of any other Schütte is a kind of go-between between two generations of contemporary German filmmaker. His is the classic case of a pro- German filmmakers: From the older generation of cinematic phet who is not heeded in his home country. This might have to

12 Portrait of Jan Schütte

Born in Mannheim in 1957, Jan Schütte studied literature, art history and philosophy, and started working as a TV reporter in 1979. He never attended film school but struck out on his own, first with documentary shorts like Ugge Baertle – Bildhauer (1982) and Eigentlich wollte ich ja nach Amerika (1984). A true independent, he founded his own production company, ”Novoskop Film“, and has acted as producer on most of his films. In 1987 he directed, produced and co-wrote (with Thomas Strittmatter) his feature debut Dragon Chow (Drachenfutter) which received numerous national and international awards, among them the Prix François Truffaut and the Premio Cinecritica, and was named best film by the German Film Critics Association.

Dragon Chow sold in 28 countries around the globe. Since then, Schütte has directed four more feature films: Winckelmanns Reisen (1990) which screened at the and was nominated for a , Auf Wiedersehen Amerika (1994), which was invited to the ”Quinzaine“ section of the Cannes festival and won several international prizes as well as a German Film Award and a Bavarian Film Award, Fette Welt (1998), an entry at the Locarno Festival, and Abschied (2000), which will be released in Germany in September. Between feature films, Schütte has also directed some highly praised documentaries and filmic essays, including Verloren in Amerika (1988), Nach Patagonien (1991), and Eine Reise ins Innere von Wien (1995). The director, who lives in Berlin with his wife and three children, is currently wrapping up a stint as a visiting professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire (USA). do with the unfortunate fact that Germany doesn’t look all that Wiedersehen Amerika, 1994) pursues Schütte’s familiar good in Schütte’s films. He is a director with a sense of the poe- quest for a place to call home. This senior citizen try of the mundane but with litt- combines his strengths in a le patience for flattery – remarkably pure and relaxed whatever doesn’t look or feel way: It is laconic and sensual, or smell real gets chucked out. full of wonderfully observed moments, throwaway lines, wit, His films clearly reflect the fact and shy, heart-rending glances that he started out as a docu- at the world. mentary filmmaker and still directs the occasional documen- After Bye Bye America, tary and filmic essay - most of Schütte’s longtime collaborator, them, like Nach Patagonien the screenwriter and playwright (1991) and Eine Reise in Thomas Strittmatter, died das Innere von Wien unexpectedly at the age of 33. (1995), also preoccupied with Schütte shelved a project they questions of travelling, identity, had been working on together, and place. In Dragon Chow and turned to adapting a success- (Drachenfutter, 1987), his ful German novel about a young black-and-white feature debut, homeless man in Munich. the young director chronicled the travails of two foreigners, a Fat World (Fette Welt, Pakistani refugee and a Chinese 1998) lacked the story-telling skills waiter, who try to open their that had distinguished Schütte’s own restaurant in . earlier efforts but succeeded as an authentic look at life on the The city looks harsh and unwel- streets. Up next is Abschied, a coming in the film, and it is only film about writer Bertolt Brecht, Schütte’s wry sense of humor starring one of Germany’s and his keen awareness of life’s greatest theater actors, Joseph small ups and downs that pro- Bierbichler. vide a sense of warmth and Jan Schütte optimism. In Winckel- “The film compresses Brecht’s mann’s Reisen (1990), whole life into a single day shortly Schütte’s next feature, also shot in black and white, the hero is a before his death,” Schütte says. “It seems very simple, yet it traveller of another kind: Winckelmann, a small, shrivelled-up guy deals with many complicated issues. That’s what I wanted to in his forties, is a shampoo salesman who spends his life hawking achieve this time: a blend of simplicity and complexity.” his wares in small, dreary beauty parlors across the flats of Northern Germany. He is a lost and awkward man, and Schütte Jan Schütte spoke to tenderly lays bare his inability to connect to the people around SPIEGEL film editor Susanne Weingarten. him. “Every life has its drama,” Schütte claims, “you just have to discover it, name it and shape it.”

Four years later, Schütte looked beyond Germany to tell the story of three elderly emigrants – two of them Jewish Holocaust refugees – who decide to return to Europe after several decades in the . Bye Bye America (Auf

13 Portrait of Producer Andrea Willson

Andrea Willson was born in Heidelberg in 1962 and studied Sociology at Boston College, in the United States. She entered the industry in 1988 at WNET Public Television in New York. From 1990-92 she conti- nued her journalistic work with CNN and Deutsche Welle as well as producing her first documentary. She then joined Taurus Film developing and evaluating scripts and treatments for both the German and internatio- nal markets. 1993-1994 saw her heading development at Tele München. From 1994-1996 she developed and oversaw projects for Pro Sieben before heading up RTL2’s Fiction department. In 1998 she became head of Deutsche Columbia Pictures Filmproduktion. Currently overseeing the annual production of 3-4 German features she was responsible for the recent horror hit Anatomie). SUCCESS IS IN THE DETAILS ”We’re already thinking about a possible ”Anatomie 2,“ says

Andrea Willson Andrea Willson. Written and directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky, Anatomie is a nail-biting thriller about a young student, played by Run, Lola, Run-star , who stumbles upon a secret organisation of unscrupulous and somewhat sadistic medical researchers at the University of Heidelberg. The film taps into people’s instinctive fear of doctors and scalpels, notes Willson. It's that universal appeal, or aversion in the case of Anatomie, that has made the film a hit in Germany and may end up luring foreign viewers. Willson also credits Potente, who plays the amiable but nerdy heroine Paula. In addition to a sexy young cast, the mix of horror and comedy has helped the film do unusually well among female viewers.

While German filmmakers have been inspired by international successes like Run, Lola, Run to aim beyond national borders, Willson says it’s important to make films for German viewers first, and if they take off internationally, then great. ”We would never choose to produce something that did not work in Germany,“ she adds.Willson was appointed managing director Despite its parent company’s famous name, not to mention the in 1998 when Deutsche Columbia was established as part of popular logo, Deutsche Columbia Pictures is a German Sony Pictures Entertainment’s plan for a strategic global film company with its focus squarely on the local market. expansion. The company has also set up local Columbia branches Nevertheless, Deutsche Columbia Managing Director Andrea in Hong Kong, India and the U.K. in order to tap into the local Willson points out that being part of one of the world’s most tastes and local talent of some of the world's most important famous movie companies does have its advantages, like being able markets. to tap into a wealth of experience and wisdom. With some 100 million German speakers in Europe, Deutsche Yet Willson’s own background has helped her develop a feeling Columbia’s offices in the futuristic new Sony complex at for solid story-telling. Before coming to Deutsche Columbia, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin’s glitzy new downtown area, have come she headed fiction at the German commercial broadcaster RTL 2, to symbolise the company's commitment to this significant worked in film development at the German network ProSieben, European market. Surrounded by huge glass panes that overlook supervised screenplay development at the production company the Tiergarten, Berlin’s answer to Central Park, and with a view of Tele München and evaluated screenplays and treatments at the Reichstag parliament building in the distance, Willson says Munich-based Taurus Film. The experience has convinced Willson the fancy new digs should inspire her team to work real hard. that a good movie is finished first on paper, then on film, adding that it’s much easier and much more efficient to take your time in The company is busy working on its next film (cf. page 22) pre-production to iron out any problems before shooting begins. Commercial Men from writer/director Lars Kraume, The early development of the project, the fine-tuning of the which looks at the vicious dog-eat-dog world of advertising, and script, is vital for a film’s success, she says. ”It’s the project which in the upcoming Was tun, wenn’s brennt, the lives of six always decides when it’s ready.“ former friends are turned upside down when a bomb they plan- ted ten years ago suddenly explodes in the former residence of With Deutsche Columbia’s first film, Anatomie, having earned a U.S. general in Berlin (cf. page 26). The film, like Anatomie, some DM 20 million in its first six weeks, it looks like a develop- is being produced by Jakob Claussen and Thomas ment strategy that has paid off. It’s not only Willson who is Woebke, and is set to start shooting later this year. Deutsche celebrating the film’s success, however. Executives at Columbia Columbia plans on making three to four films a year with Tristar are eagerly awaiting its international performance and budgets ranging between DM 4 and DM 10 million. enthusiastic about the picture's video and TV potential. Ed Meza

14

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Bavaria Film International

Established in 1998 Foreign offices t.b.a. Head of Bavaria Film International Michael Weber Additional contact Thorsten Schaumann Main fields of activity world-wide distribution of feature films Regular attendance of the following film markets AFM, Berlin Film Festival, , Locarno, London Screenings, MIFED, Rotterdam Film Festival, Sundance, Toronto Number of titles on offer 50 Percentage of German titles on offer 95% Buyers include Sony Picture Classics, Miramax, ARP, Pandora, Lucky Red, Upstream Pictures, Angel Films, Hana Media, Avro and Stratosphere. Most well-known current titles on offer The Legends of Rita by Volker Schlöndorff, Fandango by Matthias Glasner, Tuvalu by Veit Helmer and Gigantic by Best-selling titles currently on sale Run Lola, Run by Tom Tykwer, Beyond Silence by Caroline Link and Comedian Harmonists by Joseph Vilsmaier. BAVARIANS AT THE GATE

From its home in Munich, Bavaria Film International Bavaria Film International is also about to acquire its first typifies the kind of company which has made its namesake the non-German produced film. Weber refuses to be drawn, but Freistaat Bayern, or Bavaria, not just a national but international says to watch out for the announcement at Cannes. It promises powerhouse. It’s local, but thinks and acts global. Bavaria Film to make a splash. When it comes to producers the company is International is a part of Bavaria Media GmbH, a subsidiary of keen to start the dialogue as early as possible. Why? ”We want Bavaria Film GmbH, one of Europe’s biggest film and television to ensure producers are not focusing only on Germany, but will production companies. Bavaria create things, even in the pre-produc- Media handles film and television tion stage, that will have international, rights and co-ordinates co-production world-wide success“, says Weber. and co-financing, Bavaria Film International distributes the most ”And that’s what we’ve achieved. We successful German Films on the world can only be as good as the films we market. ”How do you sell a German have. When we don’t have any good film best?“ asks Michael Weber, films, we can’t do anything. Continual Head of Bavaria Film Inter- dialogue with producers, he finds, is national, rhetorically. ”It’s not about the key. Dialogue about the best selling a German film, but a film, marketing strategy, which people to regardless of where it comes from.“ cast, even the music. Bavaria Film International is happiest when the Bavaria Film International’s dialogue starts as early as possible. current catalogue includes last year’s It all starts, he says, with a good conspiracy-filled hacker tale 23, the script. That’s where the problems are children’s classic Annaluise and anchored. But he doesn’t see shooting Anton, the critically acclaimed Paths in English as the perfect solution. in the Night and Gigantic as well as recent Berlinale entries like the ”There are good films out there, with award-winning The Legends of their own story but so universal that Rita by Volker Schlöndorff they come through in any language. and Fandango. And through its They’re not mainstream like German Independents label it Hollywood but will still be successful.“ offers a wide range of what it refers Michael Weber Weber considers all markets to be to as ”Grade A“ feature films from equally important, but agrees that for some of Germany’s most famous filmmakers as well as new Bavaria Film International long-term success lies in up-and-coming directors. Europe. ”We’re talking about European film and as different as the cultures in Europe are, they have more in common with each ”We have had the German Independents label for three other than they do, say, with Asia.“ The internet, he believes, is a years to create a brand for German independent film. It’s been boon. Especially on the business to business level, enabling closer very successful,“ says Weber. ”It’s made us someone to talk to contact with partners in other countries and the freer and faster for good films which come from Germany. Not just for films, but exchange of information, but ”as for selling the whole film, that as a brand; a label, where you can find interesting productions.“ lies in the future.“ ”The next step will be internet films on With the market for foreign language (read European) film getting demand, and it will come,“ he says, ”but I wonder whether it will tighter Weber is changing people’s perceptions ”so that they see establish itself as part of the rights chain.“ Weber acknowledges us not just as German and limited to Germany, but as European.“ that competition among European media houses is growing, citing ”We want to distribute not just “pure“ German films, German- Canal Plus’ recent acquisition of Tom Tykwer’s latest film, language films but European films. And we are working hard to The Princess And The Warrior, but sees it as a sign of produce and acquire them.“ Films such as Conamara by Eoin how far Germany has come. ”The competition has woken up! Moore. ”It’s a German-produced feature film,“ says Weber, People have recognised that there’s been a lot of change in the ”but more Irish than German.“ German market in the last two to four years; that the product can be internationally successful.“

16 Atlas International

Established in 1967 Foreign offices France, United States, Japan, Spain, Scandinavia Head of Atlas International Dieter Menz Additional Contact Stefan Menz Main fields of activity world-wide distribution of feature films, TV-movies and series Regular attendance of the following film markets AFM, Berlin, Cannes Film Festival, MIFED, MIP TV, MIPCOM, sometimes Monte Carlo, Tokyo, Venice, NATPE Number of titles on offer 512 Percentage of German titles on offer 65% Buyers include From A (Anchor Bay Entertainment, USA) to Z (Zazie Films Inc., Japan) every top distributor in the world Most well- known current titles on offer The Red Phone (two TV-movies) by Mario Azzopardi, Turkish Delight by and Germany’s current No. 1 Ants In The Pants by Best-selling titles currently on offer Der Bewegte Mann by Sönke Wortmann, The Last Broadcast by Stefan Avalos and Lance Weiler, Bin ich Schön? by Doris Dörrie, Erotic Tales (series of short films by directors of inter- national fame), Last House on the Left by Wes Craven and The Lost Army by Andrezej Wajda AN INTERNATIONAL FORCE Dieter Menz is a man who knows films. They’re not only his ”If you look at the American market there are only seven-hun- life’s work but his love. You could say they’re even in his blood. dred and fifty arthouse cinemas and they are the only ones which The co-founder and Atlas International’s President and play foreign language films. Twenty years ago the films of those CEO was introduced to the big screen by his father. Erich German directors were exactly what the American arthouse Menz, who opened Berlin’s first cinema in 1922, used to take audience wanted to see. Today, German directors are making Dieter in his pram to work with him! mainstream films.“ He cites Maybe … Maybe Not (Der Bewegte Mann) as an example: a mainstream film, shot It not only saved money on baby-sitters, it taught him to under- in German, is considered a foreign language picture in the States stand the audience’s, that is the customer’s, perspective. ”Atlas and therefore plays only in arthouses and not in mainstream thea- International is a sales company,“ Dieter Menz says. ”We tres. ”The arthouse audience,“ says Menz, ”does not appreciate produce and sell films. You can’t make someone buy what they this type of film because it is not an art film, and the mainstream don’t want or isn’t any good. The custo- audience does not go to see it as it mer comes first, second and third.“ Films plays in arthouses as a foreign langua- from any country have found, will always ge picture.“ find, a caring and professional sales department, as long as they are good, So how has selling German film chan- commercial entertainment. ged over these twenty years? ”It is more difficult!“ The new generation ”That’s the main criterion for me. The of directors has yet to break through films we turn out, that we produce, have and make its mark on an internatio- to be entertaining, and they have to enter- nal audience. Wim Wenders is, tain as much of the world as possible,“ of course, still going strong, as evi- says Menz. ”Elitists, films made only for denced by Buena Vista Social the smallest of target groups, don’t inte- Club and Million Dollar Hotel rest us. We want to reach the big cinema, which have sold, are selling, extreme- not small discussion groups.“ As the com- ly well. ”But,“ says Stefan Menz, pany’s name says, it’s international. It just ”with the exception of Tom happens to be German. Regularly atten- Tykwer – and let’s make it very ding the world’s major markets, Atlas clear, it’s only Lola Runs which has International has its finger on the really done big business in a number pulse of the business; watching the trends, of territories – German directors are seeing who’s making what and where and, not well known abroad and we no more importantly, if it’s selling. ”This is a longer have the actors anymore, the relationship business,“ says Stefan Menz, Atlas’ President. Dieter Menz top box office names abroad.“ ”We represent the interests of some one hundred producers. They look to us, they’re relying on us, to serve those interests. Stuck in a Catch-22 situation, German filmmakers, he believes, If we don’t sell, they can’t produce.“ need to make a name for themselves through quality product which finds an international audience. As for the internet, Then he names a long list of titles such as the upcoming TV-movie Dieter Menz is not yet convinced. ”We all talk about the The Red Phone, German cartoon hit Werner Beinhart, future and we all expect the big money in the internet. But as ”Stargate“ and ”Independence Day“ director Roland long as it is not guaranteed by a corresponding technique and Emmerich’s debut, The Noah’s Ark Principle, the system so that films aren’t pirated and every viewer has to pay a Oscar nominated Polish film, Pharaoh, and many, many others. fee which is available to the producer, I don’t see it as a possibility Over the last twenty years they have seen a lot of changes in the for producers to make money.“ For the time being, Atlas industry, especially when it comes to selling German films. International remains wedded to the tried and proven methods; quality products, long-standing relationships, solid ”Twenty years ago,“ Dieter says, ”Germany had famous directors market research and, quite simply, being there. ”There’ll always like Werner Herzog, Fassbinder, Schlöndorff and be the need for markets. Nothing will ever replace meeting Wenders who were selling all over the world and it made selling someone, shaking hands, sitting down and enjoying a drink.“ German films easy. These directors and their films were art films.

17 Kino news

First Festival of German Cinema in Rome

The Export-Union of German Cinema followed Paris, London, Madrid and Buenos Aires with the first Festival of German Cinema in Rome. Eight feature films and the shorts programme ”Next Generation“ were presented from April 6-10, 2000 in the centrally located ’Cinema Barberini‘. The festival’s goal was to attract a professional and general audience for German cinema in another European metropolis. Cannes as platform for the new generation of filmmakers The festival was opened by the comedy Enlightenment Guaranteed by Doris Dörrie who personally introduced For the third time running the Export-Union of German her film. Leading personalities from the Italian film and arts Cinema will be presenting a selection of shorts by German world attended the screening and the reception thereafter. film students during the Cannes Film Festival under the label The programme featured another seven films which were of Next Generation. selected by an independent Italian expert jury from 40 titles: Eleven films from five film schools have made it this year into the Next Generation programme which was initiated in 1998 by the Export-Union in close collaboration with the University of Hamburg’s Film postgraduate course, the dffb in Berlin, the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy, HFF ”Konrad Wolf“ in Potsdam-Babelsberg, HFF Munich und the Academy of Art for Media in .

The Export-Union will be presenting the films, which were elected by an independent expert jury (this year: Heinz Badewitz, director of the Hof Film Days; Astrid Kühl, mana- ging director of the Short Film Agency in Hamburg, and Susan Vahabzadeh, journalist), to a professional audience in the STAR Cinema in Cannes on Sunday 14th May as part of the ”Cannes German Programme“. Buyers, journalists and Gigantic, a melancholic comedy by Sebastian Schipper; festival representatives will get to see a broad spectrum of Aimée & Jaguar – a love story between two women that various talents: has lasted past death – by Max Färberböck; Rosa von Praunheim's life story of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld The Harara by Andy Kaiser, Letters by Matthias Einstein Of Sex; Rolf Schübel’s tragic love story Wittmann and Mann im Mond by Chris Gloomy Sunday; the end of childhood is recalled by Stenner/Arvid Uibel (Baden-Württemberg Film Anno Saul in Green Desert; the oppressively realistic Academy ); Hartes Brot by Nathalie Percillier (dffb); thriller Paradise Mall by Friedemann Fromm Hör Dein Leben by Züli Aladag (Academy of Art for and Thorsten Schmidt's modern big-city fairytale Media Cologne); BSSS by Felix Gönnert, Kleingeld by Schnee in der Neujahrsnacht. Marc-Andreas Bochert and Trompe l’œil by Ingo Panke (HFF Konrad Wolf); Bin weg – Lisa by Matthias The shorts programme NEXT GENERATION, which was Kutschmann, Dobermann by Florian Henckel- shown in Cannes last year, was presented in cooperation with Donnersmarck and Verzaubert by Christian Ditter the Roman film school ’Scuola Nazionale di Cinema‘. (HFF Munich). The Festival’s partners were the Federal State Minister for Culture and Affairs of the Media, the German Federal Film As always, the Export-Union invites one of the directors to Board (FFA), the six major regional film funds, the Goethe- Cannes – this year’s lucky winner is Nathalie Percillier. Institute Rome, Lufthansa, Film und Video Untertitelung and For Marcel-Kyrill Gardelli (Road to Palermo), the ’Radio Citta’ Futura‘. invitation to the Croisette in 1999 was ”a super opportunity to get an impression of how the international film business works and how the big boys operate – and all of this not just as an observer, but with one’s own film up on the screen“.

Following the presentation in Cannes, which is also organised in collaboration with the six major regional film funds (Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, FilmFörderung Hamburg, Filmstiftung NRW, MFG Baden- Württemberg, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung), Next Generation will also be staged – as happened last year – as part of the Festivals of German Cinema which the Export- Union organises in key cities of the international film industry.

18 Kino news 5 Years of FilmFörderung Hamburg – 20 Years of Film

Funding in Hamburg NEXT GENERATION

This year film funding in Hamburg has two reasons to celebra- te: 20 years ago in the Hansa city, the signal was given for the start of a cultural film funding programme within which film- makers themselves selected the material to be sponsored. In 1982, the installation of commercial film funding created a basis supporting a range of work from large international cinema productions to unusual documentary and experimental films. The merger of these two institutions on 1.7.95 led to the present FilmFörderung Hamburg GmbH (FFHH); its clear profile being a balance between innovative, cultural and more commercial projects. Scenes from Export-Union’s short film-programme Export-Union’s Scenes from Statistically, the work of the FFHH may be expressed in the Start Signal for the following way: 87 million DM have been spent – 54 million DM for the production of 83 feature films, 9 million DM for televi- ”mdm-locationguide“ Photos: sion films and series, and 6 million DM for documentary films. A total of 6 million DM have gone into the development of The location guide of the Mitteldeutsche Medien- projects and scriptwriting, 7,5 million DM into distribution förderung (Central German Media Funding) has been and sales. 220,000 DM have been available each year since online since May. Already it is possible to research into 1997 for extraordinary publicity measures and film presentati- more than 600 locations for filming in Thuringia, Saxony- ons, as well as for outstanding film programmes organized by Anhalt and Saxony under the Internet address Hamburg film theatres. ”http://www.mdm-locationguide.de“.

The very detailed information concerning potential film locations has been put together to cater for the needs of the professional user. Particular emphasis was placed on intuitive guidance of users, permitting an effective and uncomplicated search for the required location. Another important point is the super quick loading of pages, so that despite the inte- gration of attractive location photos, there are no long waiting times.

At the Focus Germany stand in Cannes, the Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the FilmFörderung Hamburg and the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung will be organizing two joint day events. On 13.05.2000, the focus is to be on films shown in Cannes which they have sponsored. On 16.05.2000, the three location offices will be presenting information on their MFG SUMMER ACTIVITIES: services and online offers.

MFG PRESENCE AT THE MIFA IN ANNECY At the Marché International du Film d'Animation (MIFA) from June 7 to 10, 2000 during the International Animated Film Festival in Annecy, MFG and various local producers will be present at the MFG stand 5.9 to give an overview of recent animated films funded by MFG and produced in the south- west.

THE SECOND ”LOCATION TOUR BADEN- WÜRTTEMBERG“ In order to present the south-west as an attractive location for films, MFG has now initiated the second ”Location tour Baden- Württemberg“ around Karlsruhe/Mannheim and the northern Black Forest for producers and film-makers from June 20 to 21, 2000.

SCRIPTWRITING CAMP FREIBURG A script development training for young writers and script talents organized by MFG, the Goethe Institute Freiburg, TaunusFilm GmbH Wiesbaden and ZFP will take place in Freiburg from May 26 to 31, 2000 and in Wiesbaden from September 4 to 9, 2000. 19 Kino news

European Co-producers’ Summit

in Munich NEXT GENERATION

Meet your future co-production partners – that’s the slogan for the international co-production summit ”Europe of the Short Routes“ which features guests from southern Germany, and Switzerland and is being held just before the Munich Film Festival, on the 23rd June 2000. The event has been organised by the FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, together with representative promotional bodies from Baden-Württemberg, Austria and Switzerland.

Invited producers will present concrete film and television projects which all have co-production potential. Alongside possible future partners, representatives of the respective International Film Congress in Scenes from Export-Union’s short film-programme Export-Union’s Scenes from promotional bodies, broadcasters and distributors will also June in Cologne be present. The summit’s main aim is to enable contact between potential development and production partners. For the first time, the International Film Congress of Photos: In previous years the summit has been held successfully in the Filmstiftung NRW will be taking place within the Graz, Locarno and Strasburg. context of the Media Forum NRW (4th – 7th June) – not only at the Cologne Fair, but also in the Cologne Flora. On For more information: Monday 5th June, the Filmstiftung has invited the national and Anja Metzger · FFF Bayern Location Büro international film world to take part in events, discussions and phone: +49-89-544 60 216 a closing ”Eurocoops reception“ in the Flora. Discussions will email: [email protected] concern opportunities for private film sponsorship, media training and sales chances for German films abroad.

At the Cologne Fair on Tuesday and Wednesday, the focus will be on studios, screenplays and camera work. Parallel to the discussions of the Film Congress, the Filmstiftung is also organizing the ”International Co-Production Market Cologne“ in the Flora – to take place on 4th and 5th June. Here French, Spanish, Italian and German producers will have an opportunity to make contacts and to discuss possibilities for projects and co-productions.

Contacts: Anne Marburger (Organization Film Congress) phone: +49-02 11-9 30 50-14

Sonja Mörkens (Organization Co-Production Market) FFA Supports Video Industry phone: +49-02 11-9 30 50-15 For The First Time Silke Zimmermann (Press) phone: +49-02 11-9 30 50-23 / -24 For the first time the FFA (German Federal Film Board) will this year be giving its support to Germany’s videostores and Update on the Internet under programming suppliers. After years of legal dispute between www.filmstiftung.de the FFA and the video industry over the payment of statutory taxes on videos agreement was finally reached at the end of last year after both sides accepted proposals put forward by the Minister for Culture Dr. Michael Naumann. The FFA-Video subcommittee met for its first session in March. A total of DM 6.2m in financial support is now on offer to the video industry.

Monies to promote videostores are available in the form of loans for the modernisation, improvement and creation of family video outlets as well as the acquisition of product speci- ally suited to children and young people. In addition, monies are also available to software suppliers to promote the pro- duction and delivery of videos and DVDs for the child/youth market; to help them enter the market, expand their existing activities or form co-operation agreements.

20

Ulrike Ottinger Ulrike back to the Middle Ages“, she says) Ottinger intends to film in winter ”to emphasise the dark, the dark nature of the story“.

”Then there are the costumes, with magnificent colours. Colour’s very important. It’ll be an orgy in red, differentiated by varying shades of red.“ And, of course, blood red. Because the Bloodcountess ”does what vampires do. She goes hunting“.

For the cast, Ottinger sees actress-singer in the title role. The former wife of director Rainer Werner Fassbinder is ”perfect. She’s timeless, extre- mely elegant, lascivious, even insolent, with a very strong eroticism.“ Also on the list are , Christoph Eichhorn, and, as guest star, music diva Nina Hagen.

Die Blutgräfin Ottinger worked on the dialogue with Büchner Prize winning novelist Elfriede Jelinek, herself an Austrian. ”It’s important“, Original Title Die Blutgräfin English Title The Blood- says Ottinger coming back to the film’s ‘other’ star, ”that some countess Type of Project Feature Genre Vampire film of the characters speak with a Viennese charm.“ Production Company WEGA Filmproduktion, In co-production with Ulrike Ottinger Filmproduktion, Berlin With backing from Wiener Filmfinanzierungsfonds Producers Dr. Veit Heiduska, Ulrike Ottinger Director Ulrike Ottinger Screenplay Ulrike Ottinger, Elfriede Jelinek Director of Photography Walter Kindler Editor Bettina Böhler Commercial Men Principal Cast Ingrid Caven, Lipgart Schwarz, Christoph Original Title Commercial Men English Title Commercial Eichhorn, Peter Kern, Hanns Zischler, Udo Kier Format 35 mm, Men Type of Project Feature Film Genre Dramatic Comedy colour, 1:1.85 Shooting Language German Production Company Deutsche Columbia Pictures Filmpro- duktion, Berlin, von Vietighoff Filmproduktion, Berlin Producer PR Contact: Ulrike Ottinger Joachim von Vietinghoff Director Lars Kraume Screenplay Hasenheide 92 · D-10967 Berlin Lars Kraume Director of Photography Andreas Doub phone: +49-30-6 92 93 94 · fax: +49-30-6 91 33 30 Production Designer Knut Loewe Shooting Language email: [email protected] German Shooting in Frankfurt, late summer 2000 German Distributor Columbia TriStar Film GmbH, Berlin World Sales: please contact WEGA Filmproduktionsgesellschaft mbH World Sales: Hägelingasse 13 · A-1140 Wien Deutsche Columbia Pictures Contact: Andrea Willson phone: +43-1-9 82 57 42 · fax: +43-1-9 82 58 33 Kemperplatz 1 · D-10785 Berlin email: [email protected] phone: +49-30-25 75 59 12 · fax +49-30-25 75 59 19

”It’s a vampire film“, says writer-director Ulrike Ottinger of her latest project, Die Blutgräfin, ”set in, and about, Vienna.“ Whereas, for most films, setting is often a matter of just place, in Die Blutgräfin it is part of the story. ”Vienna has such a

fascinating architectural heritage; the baroque, classical, rococo, Lars Kraume Gothic, everything“, says Ottinger, ”It’s so stark and powerful with a dark, brooding history all of its own.“

Not just a location, then, but almost running alongside in a parallel story, Vienna is the stage for the return, after several hundred years, of the notorious Hungarian vampire, Countess Bathory; a woman of actual historical substance whose murderous exploits earned her the nickname of ”The Bloodcountess.“ Although the action plays in the present, the film’s use of architecture, above ground as well as beneath (who could ever forget the sewer sequences in ?), emphasises the timeless aspects of the vampire legends. No matter how long the centuries, you cannot keep a good vampire down.

Ottinger is also fascinated by the Viennese preoccupation with death and its elaborate rituals, ”those magnificent funeral processi- ons of the past, with horses bedecked in black, pall bearers, pro- fessional mourners, the whole panoply of burial“. With location filming also planned in the Czech Republic (”In two towns dating

22 in production Commercial Men is a dramatic comedy and award-winning Writer-director Niko von Glasow-Brücher recounts the writer-director Lars Kraume’s first theatrical feature. ”It’s true story of the Edelweiss Pirates, a group of teenagers and about the gap between imagination and reality,“ he says. ”When young adults living in Nazi-era Cologne, who go from simply you start the job you’ve always dreamed of and discover what it’s fighting with members of the local Hitler Youth club to becoming really like.“ The story is set in the advertising world and tells the a real and dangerous threat to the dreaded Gestapo. story of twenty-five-year old, unemployed Viktor Vogel who cle- verly talks his way into a job at Germany’s top agency. There he Things start getting serious for the Pirates when Hans, an escaped meets the burned-out creative director Eddie Kaminsky, who, prisoner and avowed Nazi hater, shows up and eventually convin- disillusioned by the realities of the advertising world, plans to ces the gang to raid a military weapons depot in order to later get himself fired so he can collect a big pay-off. Viktor’s arrival attack the Gestapo headquarters in Cologne. Yet their friend Cilly couldn’t be more perfect. warns them not to carry out the plan, even though she too hates the Nazis. Cilly believes in less violent ways of fighting the fascists. Kaminsky’s clever scheme doesn’t take the friendship-factor When a Nazi official is assassinated, however, the Gestapo begin into account. While Viktor runs the risk of losing his idealism on his way to the top, Eddie’s cynicism is slowly being replaced by a long-lost joie-de-vivre. ”Life’s about having to make compromi- ses“, says Kraume, who received Studio Hamburg’s 1998 Newcomer Award and the Adolf Grimme Award 2000 for Dunckel, his film school project produced for ZDF. ”It’s much more complicated than you originally thought and, in the end, we all have to grow up.“

Kraume emphasises that Commercial Men is fictional, but freely admits it is analogous, drawing on his own personal experience. The inspiration came from two seminal events in his life: his graduation from film school and starting out in the business, and the demise of his father’s advertising agency. In the true sense of the words, Commercial Men is a ”work experience film“, the experience of working.

”I wanted to make a film which deals with problems that exist in the right here and the right now. That an audience, especially a younger audience, can identify with. Yes, it’s a German film about Germans, but the issues, the loss of idealism, the dealing with the reality instead of the imagined reality of professional life, are universal.“

Edelweiss- piraten Niko von Glasow-Brücher Original title Edelweisspiraten (working title) English title Edelweiss Pirates (working title) Type of project Feature Genre Historical Drama Production Company Palladio a round-up of anybody who's suspicious, including members of Film, Cologne, in co-production with First Floor Features, the Edelweiss Pirates. , Fama Film AG, Bern, Monipoly Productions, Luxembourg With backing from Beauftragter der Bundes- Later, Cilly is also arrested by the Gestapo when they discover regierung für Angelegenheiten der Kultur und der Medien she has been hiding two Jewish women, in addition to the (preproduction and production support), Fimförderungsanstalt weapons cache stolen by the Pirates. In an effort to lure and (FFA) (reference funding). Producers Daniel Brücher, Niko capture Hans and the Pirates, the Gestapo hold Cilly and the von Glasow-Brücher Director Niko von Glasow-Brücher women as bait. The filmmakers point out that the Edelweiss Screenplay Kiki von Glasow, Niko von Glasow-Brücher Music Pirates were not absolute heroes, just ordinary, mostly working- by Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart (title song), Andreas Schilling class kids doing extraordinary things. All the main characters in Principal Cast Anna Thalbach, Jochen Nickel Format 35 mm, the film are based on real people. Following the war, Gestapo colour, 1:1:85 Shooting Language German Shooting in files revealed more than 3,000 names of young people classified Vilnius, Lithuania, September 2000 as Edelweiss Pirates.

Contact: The film starts shooting in Vilnius, Lithuania, in September. Palladio Film, Cologne: +49-2 21-2 40 66 14 Von Glasow-Brücher has won a number of awards for his email: [email protected]. previous films Wedding Guest and Marie’s Song, both of which he produced, directed and wrote. He also received the German Film Award in Silver for 1998's Wintersleeper, which he co-produced.

23 For director and co-author Michael Verhoeven the story ”is not about sensationalism or voyeurism, but what happens to the characters themselves. It’s not about the specifics of transsexuality but feelings and emotions that can touch the audience. Just imagine your own relationship were suddenly put to the test by something, a stroke of fate which could strike anyone, anywhere at anytime.“

Once again, Verhoeven has teamed up with Stefan Spreer who, as director of photography, decided to avoid close-ups in favour of fluid movements. The result is a visual dynamism which creates an intimacy between viewer and protagonist. Behind the

Nina Hoger (l.) and Dominique Horwitz (r.) film stands a great deal of research. In order to present the drama as realistically as possible, interviews were conducted with transsexuals and their partners. Some of the participants were even persuaded to appear in the film. That Enthüllung einer Ehe succeeds rests on the towering performances of the two central figures, Jana played by Nina Hoger and Roman, Dominique Horwitz.

Horwitz portrays Roman not just as a woman trapped in a man’s body but as someone worthy of our recognition, respect and sympathy. While Nina Hoger’s Jana (”A man wants to be a woman! I just can’t imagine such a thing!“) rides a roller- coaster of emotion and conflict, her pain and anguish clearly visible, it is her strength, her determination and depth of character which provide the film’s resolution. Love can, love will, love does win through.

Enthüllung Martha Original Title Martha (working title) English Title Mostly einer Ehe Martha (working title) Type of Project Theatrical feature Original Title Enthüllung einer Ehe Type of Project TV Genre Melancholy lovestory Production Company Pandora Movie Genre Drama Production Company Bavaria Film, Film Produktion, Cologne in co-production with Kinowelt Munich, in co-production with SWR, Baden-Baden, Maran Film, Film Produktion, Munich, T&C Film, , Prisma Film, Vienna, Producers Martin Bach, Michael von Mossner, Dr. Palomar, Rome With backing from FilmFörderung Hamburg, Dietrich Mack Director Michael Verhoeven Screenplay Filmstiftung NRW, Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA), Eurimages Nicole Walter-Lingen, Michael Verhoeven Director of Producers Karl Baumgartner, Christoph Friedel Director Photography Stefan Spreer Editor Romy Schumann Music Sandra Nettelbeck Screenplay Sandra Nettelbeck by Martin Grassl Principal Cast Nina Hoger, Dominique Horwitz Format Super 16 mm, colour, 16:9 Shooting Language German Shooting in Stuttgart and surroundings October to November 1999 German Distributor SWR, Baden-Baden

World Sales: Bavaria Media / german united distributors contact Rosemarie Dermühl Bavariafilmplatz 8 · D-82031 Geiselgasteig Tel. +49-89-64 99 36 66 · Fax +49-89-64 99 22 40 email: [email protected]

”I’m fascinated by the human condition“ says producer Martin Bach, ”the fundamental questions which affect us all: Who am I and where am I going? What will become of me?“ And these are Maxime Foerste Martina Gedeck, Sergio Castellitto, the questions at the core of Enthüllung einer Ehe, questions and answers which turn a happy marriage inside out and threaten to destroy the lives of all concerned.

On the surface, Jana Westphal is a happily married woman with two children and very much in love with her husband, Roman, a respected teacher. But Roman is troubled and their relationship turns sour. When Jana finds a dress and jewellery she suspects Roman of having an affair. But the truth is even more shocking. Her loving husband is a transsexual. For both of them, their world threatens to split apart.

24 in production Director of Photography Michael Bertl Editor Mona Bräuer Principal Cast Martina Gedeck, Sergio Castellitto, Maxime Foerste Format 35 mm, colour, 1:1.85 Shooting Language German Shooting in Hamburg and Italy, March- May 2000 German Distributor Arthaus Filmverleih GmbH, Connie Walther Munich Contact [email protected]

World Sales: Bavaria Film International contact Michael Weber, Thorsten Schaumann Bavariafilmplatz 8 · D-82031 Geiselgasteig Tel. +49-89-64 99 26 86 · Fax +49-89-64 99 37 20

Martha (Martina Gedeck) isn’t interested in men. Not that her job as chef in a fancy restaurant called The Lido leaves her any time for them. And Martha doesn’t mind, since her one consuming passion is the creation and perfection of culinary wonders. But her life is turned completely upside down when her sister Christin dies in a car accident, leaving Martha her eight-year-old daughter Lina (Maxime Foerste). Although she has no time to look after a child, Martha takes Lina in to prevent her from going to a foster home. Yet Lina wants nothing to do with Martha and is too sad even to eat. While Martha waits in vain for a message from Lina’s father, an Italian who most likely doesn’t even know of his daughter’s existence, her professional life also starts coming apart.

The Lido’s owner Frida (Sibylle Cononica) hires a new cook; Mario (Sergio Castellitto) a happy go lucky Italian and hugely talented chef. He charms everyone. Especially Lina, who finally starts eating again and rediscovers her love for life. Even Martha finds herself slowly falling for his charms. But then Lina’s father shows up …

Director and writer (direction and Sandra Nettelbeck Contact: X Filme Creative Pool screenplay , 1995, and Unbeständig und kühl Mammamia Bülowstrasse 90 · D-19783 Berlin 1996/97 – Max Ophuls Prize 1998 for Best Film and Best phone +49–30–23 08 33 11 · fax +49–30–23 08 33 22 Screenplay) learned her craft at San Francisco State University. ”My pleasure“, she says of her first theatrical feature, ”is the disco- very and observation of my characters. And Martha is the story. 1982. During a trip to East Berlin, the 16-year-old West Berliner She dictates the tempo, she creates the atmosphere and she is, as Nele meets a young punker called Captain. She falls head over she herself says at the end, not so easy to get to know.“ Martha heels for the teenage rebel, and with all that he represents. is portrayed by the versatile Martina Gedeck, whose list of acting credits leaves you wondering not what she does when she’s Captain, the burgeoning punk scene and the rebellious youth not working, but if she ever stops working! movement in East Berlin become a fascinating new world for Nele. She smuggles Super-8 film material about the East’s anti- Among her more recent outings were Sönke Wortmann’s establishment kids to the other side of the Wall where it is Der bewegte Mann (1994), Rainer Kaufmann’s shown on West German TV. The Stasi, ’s dreaded Stadtgespräch (1995) and Helmut Dietl’s Rossini (1996). secret police, are alerted to the counter-revolutionary activities Martha is a film more in the French than German tradition, says of the punk and ultimately threaten to destroy Nele and Captain’s Sandra Nettelbeck. ”It blooms slowly just like its heroine. It’s growing love. melancholic and humorously laconic at the same time.“ Pandora Film’s first major German-language feature, , is a film for Martha Director Connie Walther describes the film as not only gourmets of fine cinema. a romance, but also as a journey into the past times of East Germany. Captain is a ”rebel with a cause“ in a world which existed not so many years ago. The director says she is surprised by how little young people today know about life in Pissed the German Democratic Republic. She hopes the dramatic love story will transport viewers back 20 years into German history And Proud as Nele explores the completely foreign land on the other side of the Wall. Original Title Pissed and Proud Type of Project Feature Film Genre Drama Production Company X Filme Creative Although a fictional story, the events portrayed in the film are Pool GmbH, Berlin In cooperation with ZDF; Mainz With based on true occurrences, like the punk concerts that used to backing from BKM, Berlin, Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA), Film- be staged in East Berlin churches. Walther says she was board Berlin-Brandenburg, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern Pro- especially interested in making a film about punk music and ducers Stefan Arndt, Maria Köpf Director Connie Walther East German youth culture. X Filme’s music department is Screenplay Natja Brunckhorst Director of Photography currently working on the soundtrack, compiling both original Peter Nix Art Director Gabriele Wolff Format Super 16 mm punk tracks and new recordings. Blow Up, colour, 1:1,85 Shooting language German Shooting in Berlin to beginning of May 24 German distributor X Verleih AG, Berlin 25 Die Polizistin Original Title Die Polizistin (working title) Type of Project hard to bear, that are seen as weaknesses whenever anyone does TV Movie Genre Crime Thriller Production Company something good, or is good-natured or sympathetic.“ Westdeutsche Universum-Film, Potsdam, for WDR, Cologne Producers Norbert Sauer, Christian Granderath Stieler comes from the former GDR, where ”the police were Commissioning Editor Wolf-Dietrich Brücker Director just thugs and I wanted nothing to do with people like that.“ Andreas Dresen Screenplay Laila Stieler Director of Until, that is, she read Diary Of A Beat Officer by Annegret Photography Michael Hammon Editor Monika Schindler Held, and ”how she used her female viewpoint. How she Principal Cast Gabriela Maria Schmeide, Axel Prahl Format particularly depicted the social cases which happened daily. super16/35 mm, colour Shooting Language German That was my main inspiration, I’d say.“ Shooting in Berlin and Rostock from February to March 2000 Die Polizistin is the third time Laila Stieler, producer Contact: Christian Granderath and director Andreas Dresen Carola Tiedke have collaborated. For Granderath, Dresen was the ideal Westdeutsche Universum-Film GmbH choice, whom he compares to British director Ken Loach. Dianastr. 21 · D-14482 Potsdam He tries to relate to a style which may be very common in, for phone: +49-3 31-7 06 03 70 · fax: +49-3 31-7 06 03 76 instance, British cinema, but not very common in Germany. His email: [email protected] concern is to show real life, real people, like Ken Loach who has influenced him very much. ”He is also influenced by the ”This is a character study“, says writer Laila Stieler, ”about a Dogma discussion, this semi-documentary style.“ woman who is too good for this world. A woman in a profession where pity is not allowed.“ Her hero, Anne, freshly graduated Seven years in the writing, Die Polizistin is a story which from the police academy, arrives in a run-down, deprived, inner shows the reality of policework. Not a daily round of car chases city area of the eastern German city of Rostock; high-rise apart- and murders, but rather social problems in the Rostocks of this ment buildings, monstrous shopping malls and grey, grey streets. world. ”Policework“, says Granderath, ”is telling someone a relative has died in an accident.“

Was tun, wenn’s brennt? Original Title Was tun, wenn’s brennt? English Title Andreas Dresen and his team Dresen Andreas What To Do In Case Of Fire (Working title) Type of Project Feature Film Genre Drama Production Companies Deutsche Columbia Pictures, Berlin, Claussen + Wöbke Filmpro- duktion, Munich Script developed with the support of MFG and Equinoxe Filmproduktion GmbH Producers Jacob Claussen, Thomas Wöbke Director Gregor Schnitzler Screenplay Anne Wild, Stefan Dähnert Format 35 mm, colour, 1:1.85 Shooting language German Shooting in Berlin, Fall 2000 German Distributor Columbia TriStar Film GmbH, Berlin

World Sales: Deutsche Columbia Pictures Contact: Andrea Willson Kemperplatz 1 · D-10785 Berlin phone: +49-30-25 75 59 12 · fax +49-30-25 75 59 19

As often happens, the wild, impetuous idealism of youth has given way to more serious-minded pursuits; like making money, establishing private businesses and going into politics. All except for Tim, however, who has managed to keep his revolutionary ideals intact. The once tight friends haven't seen each other in a decade, until a Molotov cocktail they planted in the former residence of a U.S. military general goes off after years of lying dormant and forgotten. She’s 27 years old, no beauty but not unattractive, single with no ties and hoping to make a new start. But her daily life as a police The explosion leads the police to Tim, where they confiscate old officer is a constant struggle with bureaucracy and the many film footage that could incriminate the group. Circumstances encounters, some significant, others not, with criminals of all force the former pals to reunite in an effort to retrieve the kinds. Anne is affected by these encounters with people whose evidence and save themselves from possible prison sentences. everyday existence is one of poverty and doesn’t always find it Together again, the once close friends realise how much they easy to keep her emotional distance. One day, when called to a have all changed over the years, wondering what happened to routine situation, she meets Benny, a 10-year-old boy who has their idealism, to the contempt they shared for material been caught shoplifting in the supermarket. possessions and bourgeois aspirations.

”Anne is based on many things“, says Stieler. ”My own experi- Was tun, wenn’s brennt? says Anne Wild ”is a story ence, sure. But I also wanted to say things about society which are about old friendships, getting older and the constant presence of

26 in production director and author Ilona Ziok. ”It’s also a love story; his love of music, of silent movies and his love for his wife.“

Comprised of a prologue, main part and epilogue, there are two narrative perspectives; the present (in colour) and the past as flashback (old black and white filmclips from the 1920s).

At home in Berlin, 96-year-old Willy talks about love, ageing, films and above all, the music he embodies. He recalls and relates many episodes of his life, providing his own musical accompani- ment, while his best critic and wife Doris, who is 40 years younger, comments ironically yet lovingly.

Ilona Ziok was born in , educated in Britain and Germany, studied at the Moscow Film School and Columbia University in New York, then worked for German television before writing and directing her own documentaries. In 1990 she formed the production company, TV-Ventures.

Her 1999 film Kurt Gerron (about the German Jewish enter- tainer of the 1920s and ’30s) was one of the three documentaries selected for the Telluride festival.

Jacob Claussen, Thomas Wöbke Her co-producer and partner, Thomas Mertens, studied law and then communications before becoming a producer and the past in our lives and, as a writer, those are fascinating topics founding his own company, Ciak Filmproduction, in Cologne. to explore.“ The film also deals with Berlin’s Autonomen, a group of anarchists and house squatters in the 1970s and 80s that His best known films are Nico Icon (1995) and Zoe (1999) demonstrated against U.S. nuclear missiles stationed in West which won the Best New Director Award (ex aequo with Bang Germany as well as corporate society in general. Boom Bang) when it premiered at the Munich Film Festival.

Wild’s writing partner Stefan Dähnert was ”more interested Since 1991 Ziok and Mertens, working separately and in the political side of the story“, adds Wild, ”making for a good together, have produced a wide range of theatrical and television balance.“ Anne Wild and Stefan Dähnert won the Baden- documentaries and features which have sold worldwide, and Württemberg Script Prize for Was tun, wenn’s brennt? in enjoyed many notable festival successes. February. It’s their first joint project. Last year they merged their two companies to form CV Films. Willy der Stummfilmpianist is just one of a number of documentary and feature projects (such as Cabaret of Exile Willy, der with ) about to go into production or in Stummfilmpianist various stages of development and pre-production.

Original Title Willy der Stummfilmpianist (working title)

English Title Willy - The Silent Movie Pianist Type of Ilona Ziok Project Musical/Feature/Documentary Production Company CV Films, Berlin, in co-production with Matti Film, Hamburg, NDR, Hamburg With backing from FilmFörderung Hamburg, Filmförderung Niedersachsen, Medienstiftung Schleswig- Holstein, Kulturstiftung Berlin, MEDIA II Producers Thomas Mertens, Ilona Ziok Director Ilona Ziok Screenplay Ilona Ziok Editor Ludmilla Korb-Mann Principal Cast Prof. Willy Sommerfeld, Walter Raffeiner Format 35 mm, betacam, colour, b&w Shooting Language Silent film with music Shooting in Berlin 2000.

Contact: CV Films GmbH Greifswalderstr. 207 · D-10405 Berlin phone: +49-30-53 69 60 83 · fax: +49-30-53 69 60 85 email: [email protected]

Willy der Stummfilmpianist tells the story of Professor Willy Sommerfeld, the world’s oldest, and still active film accompanist. So what could be more fitting than a film which pays homage to the silent movie, with a piano soundtrack and the minimum of commentary?

”The film depicts Willy’s life story with the stylistic means and characteristic simplicity of silent movies”, says the producer,

27 Abschied CANNES 2000: THE FAREWELL UN CERTAIN REGARD

It is one of of an exceptionally hot summer. Bertolt Brecht is about to leave his lakeside house among the tall birches in Brandenburg to return to Berlin for the upcoming theater season. Most of the women of his life are there: his wife Helene Weigel, daughter Barbara, the old lover Ruth Berlau, his latest flame, the nubile actress Käthe Reichel and sensous Isot Kilian, whose affections and body he shares with the rebel political activist Wolfgang Harich. They swim, write, eat, drink and philosophize about art, politics, the basic tents of life – and throughout, the Stasi is there – lurking on the sidelines – waiting. The serenity of the country on this summer day of 1956 stands in marked contrast to the deep,

volatile emotions of the characters. Brecht Adlon Percy is at the center of the storm in the heaven and hell of human relationships: love and hatred, jealousy and egomania, betrayal and dashed hopes. He struggles to make plans for a future that fate was soon to end. Josef Bierbichler

Genre Feature Director Jan Schütte Screenplay Jan Schütte studied literature, philosophy and Klaus Pohl Director of Photography Edward history of art. He began making films in 1982. His Kl⁄osinski Editor Renate Merck Music by John Cale documentaries include Ugge Bärtle – Bildhauer Producers Gesche Carstens, Henryk Romanowski, Jan (1982), Da ist nirgends nichts gewesen Schütte Production Company Novoskop Film, Berlin, außer hier (1983), Eigentlich wollte ich ja in co-production with WDR, Cologne, ORB, Potsdam, nach Amerika (1984), Verloren in Amerika SWR, Baden-Baden, arte, Strasbourg, Studio Babelsberg (1988) and Nach Patagonien (1991). His feature Independents, Potsdam Principal Cast Josef Bierbichler, debut, Dragon Chow (Drachenfutter, 1987), Monica Bleibtreu, Jeanette Hain, Elfriede Irrall, Margit was awarded the Premio Cinecritica, the German Film Rogall, Samuel Fintzi Length 2.635 m., 91 min. Critic’s Prize and the Prix François Truffaut. His second Format 35 mm, colour, 1:1,85 Original Version feature film, Winckelmanns Reisen (1990), was German Subtitled Versions English, French Sound presented with the CICAE Prize. Bye-bye America Technology Dolby SR With backing from (Auf Wiedersehen Amerika, 1994) was FilmFörderung Hamburg, Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg, screened in Cannes, received a German Film Prize in European Scriptfund, Kulturstiftung der Deutschen Bank Silver and a Bavarian Film Prize. In 1995 he directed International Festival Screenings Cannes 2000: Eine Reise in das Innere von Wien (essay), in Un Certain Regard German Distributor Pegasos Film – 1998 Fat World (Fette Welt) and in 2000 The Filmverleih und Produktion GmbH, Cologne Farewell (Abschied).

World Sales: Cinepool · Wolfram Skowronnek, Annegret Rönnpag Sonnenstr. 21 · D-80331 Munich phone: +49-89-55 87 60 · fax: +49-89-55 87 61 88 email: [email protected]

28 Lost Killers

Lost Killers follows a group of curious characters, stranded in the city of Mannheim, all of them struggling to survive and to fulfil their dreams. Branko and Merab are two hapless hitmen assigned to kill a businessman for reasons unknown. Absurd coincidences prevent them from carrying out their mission and so they join forces with , a gigantic illegal refugee from Haiti, and his girlfriend Lan, a tiny Vietnamese prostitute. But again the unsuspecting victim outwits them and a thoroughly unexpected murder takes place instead. Percy Adlon Percy ˘evi´c Lasha Bakradze, Mis˘el Matic Lasha Bakradze, Mis˘el

Genre Feature Director/Screenplay Dito Dito Tsintsadze was born in 1957 in Tiflis, Tsintsadze Director of Photography Benedict Georgia. From 1975 to 1981 he attended the Tiflis Neuenfels Editor Stephan Krumbiegel Music by Theater and Film Institute. After assisting various Dito Tsintsadze Producer Peter Rommel directors he made his first short film in 1990 and Production Company Home Run Pictures, then began working for the private film production Ludwigsburg, in co-production with Rommel Film, company Schvidkatsa. On the Borderline Berlin, in cooperation with ZDF, Mainz, arte, Strasbourg (Zghvardze, 1993) was awarded the Silver Loepard Principal Cast Nicole Seelig, Mis˘el Matic˘evi´c, Lasha at the Locarno Film Festival and the Golden Eagle at Bakradze, Elie James Bleees, Franca Kastein Length the International Black Sea Nations Film Festival in 100 min., 2.766 m. Format 35 mm, colour, 1:1,85 1993. His other films are: Home (1991) and Original Version German Subtitled Version Guests (short, 1993). French Sound Technology Dolby SRD With backing from MFG Baden-Württemberg, Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Beauftragter der Bundesregierung für Angelegenheiten der Kultur und der Medien (BKM) International Festival Screenings Cannes 2000: Un Certain Regard CANNES 2000: UN CERTAIN REGARD

World Sales: Christa Saredi Staffelstr. 8 · CH-8045 Zürich phone: +41-1-2 01 11 51 · fax: +41-1-2 01 11 52 email: [email protected]

29 Die Unberührbare NO PLACE TO GO

Autumn 1989. Writer Hanna Flanders is bewildered by the fact that the Berlin Wall has come down. Having participated in the student uprising in 1968 she had always viewed the GDR as the better part of Germany. On a whim she now decides to move to Berlin, to the center of a newly formed Germany. Inspired by the reunification, Hanna Flanders is also hoping for a new beginning for herself. But in a painful odyssey she experiences a society on the brink of rapid change. Knowing she has missed the boat, Hanna Flanders is heading for disaster. No Place To Go is an impressive psychological portrait of a sensitive personality. Hanna is destroyed by the conflict between her own desires and the new realities of a changed society. Acting alongside are Michael Gwisdek, Charles Regnier, Nina Petri, Jasmin Tabatabai, Lars Rudolph and Vadim Glowna. Hannelore Elsner Hannelore

Genre Feature Director/Screenplay Oskar Oskar Roehler was born in 1959, the son of wri- Roehler Director of Photography Hagen ters Gisela Elsner and Klaus Roehler. He grew up in Bogdanski Editor Isabel Meier Music by Martin London, Rome and Nuremberg and made his first Todsharow Producers Käte Ehrmann, Ulrich Caspar short film She LA in 1994. His feature debut as Production Company Distant Dreams, Berlin, in director was in 1995 with Gentleman which was co-production with ZDF, Mainz, Geyer Werke, Berlin shown at the Munich Filmfest the same year. He Principal Cast Hannelore Elsner, Vadim Glowna, followed this two years later with In With The Tonio Arango, Michael Gwisdek Length 103 min., New (Sylvester Countdown) which won the 2.818 m Format 35 mm, b&w, 1:1,85 Original Hypo-Bank Young Director’s Award ex aequo with Version German Subtitled Versions English, Martin Walz’s Liebe Lügen in Munich. Roehler French Sound Technology Dolby SR With has been a scriptwriter since 1990 with Ex (1995) backing from Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg, and Terror 2000 (1992), and he is also the author FilmFernsehFonds Bayern International Festival of a novel Das Abschnappuniverum. He has lived in Screenings Cannes 2000: Directors’ Fortnight Berlin since the early 1980s and works as a freelance German Distributor Advanced Film-Verleih GmbH journalist and author. & Co Kinoverleih KG, Oberhaching

World Sales: CANNES 2000: Bavaria Film International · Dept. Of Bavaria Media GmbH Michael Weber, Thorsten Schaumann DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT Bavariafilmplatz 8 · D-82031 Geiselgasteig phone: +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax: +49-89-64 99 37 20 www.bavaria-film-international.de · email: [email protected] 30 Vasilisa

Who is Vasilisa? Imagine the Horror Picture Show meets Alice in Wonderland, with superb comedic performances, funky hip hop music, vivid lightening and a fashionable creative set design. What is Vasilisa about? Very simple no doubt! If you wanna get a girl, go to the forest and shoot an arrow. CANNES 2000: If you wanna get a beauty, pick up a frog. If you wanna keep her, hands off her frog suit. CANNES JUNIOR What!!! You couldn't keep your paws off?!

Welcome to a world of losers! Adlon Percy Now your only chance is to find a crazy witch and hope she will help you get your sweetheart back. Scene from »Vasilisa« Scene from

Genre Feature Director/Screenplay Elena Shatalova Elena Shatalova was born and raised in Moscow, Director of Photography Maria Soloviera and studied at the city’s Academy for Directors befo- Editor Hans Funck Music by Klaus Doldinger, Beck, re beginning her career as a director and screenwriter Moloko, Baby Fox Producer Boris Seyfarth Production in 1994. Among her film credits are The Smell Of Company Cosmopolita Filmproduktion, Munich Grinded Plum Stones (1994, crimethriller, Principal Cast , Nina Hagen, Natalia script), Essentia (1995, short, script and direction), Haritonova, Viktor Avilov Length 99 min., 3.040 m. A Black Hat Under The Hot Sun (1996, Format 35 mm, colour, 1:1,85 Original Version short, script and direction), Magic Love (1998, English Dubbed Version German Subtitled Version horror, script) and A Muse On Short Legs French Sound Technology Dolby Digital With (1999, comedy, script). In addition to her modern backing from Beauftragter der Bundesregierung für fairy-tale, Vasilisa, she is currently working on the Angelegenheiten der Kultur und der Medien (BKM), script for the comedy Better Later Than Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA), Filmstiftung NRW Inter- Never, which she will also direct. national Festival Screenings New York Independent Festival 2000: in competition (Best Foreign Film), Cannes 2000: Cannes Junior

World Sales: please contact Cosmopolita Filmproduktions GmbH · Boris Seyfarth Theresienstr. 31 · D-80333 Munich phone/fax: +49-89-28 59 73 email: [email protected]

31 German-international Coproductions at the Official Programme of the Cannes International Film Festival

In Competition

Michael Haneke Code Inconnu (France-Germany-Roumania) German coproducer: Bavaria, Geiselgasteig

Ken Loach Bread and Roses German coproducer: Road Movies, Berlin

Pavel Lunghin La Noce (France-Russia-Germany) German coproducer: LICHTBLICK Film- und TV Produktion, Cologne

Amos Kollek Fast Food, Fast Women (France-Germany-Italy) German coproducer: Pandora, Francfurt

Un Certain Regard

Patricia Mazuy Saint-Cyr (France-Germany-Belgium) German coproducer: Lichtblick Filmproduktion, Hamburg

Juan Carlos Tabío Lista de Espera (Cuba-Spain-France-Germany) German coproducer: Road Movies, Berlin

Directors’ Fortnight

Raoul Peck Lumumba (France-Belgium-Germany) German coproducer: Essential Film Produktion, Berlin

Nana Djordjadze 27 Missing Kisses (Germany-France-Great Britain-Danmark) German producer: Egoli Films, Berlin

Béla Tarr Werckmeister Harmonies (Hungary-Germany-France) German coproducer: von Vietinghoff Filmproduktion, Berlin

Cannes Junior

Marie-Louise Bless Der Onkel vom Meer (Switzerland-Germany) German coproducer: Tiger TV, Bühl

Es geschah am 20. Juli – Aufstand gegen Adolf Hitler IT HAPPENED ON JULY 20TH

On 20th July 1944, Colonel Baron Schenk von Stauffenberg made an attempt to kill Hitler using a bomb at his ”Führer headquarters“ in eastern Prussia. G.W. Pabst has reconstructed events up to the colonel's court martial and execution chronologically and in a meticulous way, demonstrating an honest effort to be precise regarding historical facts. With considerable detail, and employing an excellent cast, he relates what really happened on 20th July … Scene from »It Happened On JulyScene from 20th«

Genre Feature Director G. W. Pabst Screenplay G. W. Pabst was born in Bohemia's Raudnitz on 27 W. P. Zibaso, G. Machaty Director of Photo- August 1885. After taking acting lessons in Vienna from graphy Kurt Hasse Music by Johannes Weißenbach 1901-1903, he began performing at several theatres in Producer Franz Seitz Production Company Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In 1912, he made Ariston/Arca Principal Cast Bernhard Wicki, Karl his debut as director at New York's ”Deutsches Ludwig Diehl, Erik Frey, Carl Wery, Kurt Meisel, Lina Volkstheater“ and made his film directorial debut in Carstens, Siegfried Lowitz Length 74 min., 2.150 m. 1922 with Der Schatz after meeting Carl Fröhlich. Format 35 mm, b&w, 1:1,66 Year of Production He directed and produced more than 40 features in 1955 Original Version German Subtitled Europe and the USA until 1956, including Geheim- Version English Sound Technology Mono nisse einer Seele (1925/26), Die weiße Hölle vom Piz Palü (1929), Westfront 1918 (1930), Kameradschaft (1931), Der letzte Akt (1955), and Durch die Wälder durch die Auen (1956), his only colour film. Illness from the 1950’s prevented him from working. He died in Vienna on 29 May 1967.

World Sales: Cine-International Fimvertrieb GmbH & Co.KG · Lilli Tyc-Holm GERMAN CLASSIC MOVIE Leopoldstr. 18 · D-80802 Munich phone: +49-89-39 10 25 · fax: +49-89-33 10 89 www.cine-international.de · email: [email protected]

34 Goya

Don Francisco de Goya Lucientes (1746 - 1828) is artist to the court of Karl IV of Spain. He is well known and well-to-do, but feels himself becoming more and more remote from the daily life and suffering of the Spanish people. After meeting the singer Maria Rosario in a Madrid tavern, where she is singing revolutionary songs, he becomes even more reflective. Rosario is hauled before the Inquisition. Goya is invited to attend as a warning not to stray from the official path. But it doesn’t stop him from increasingly leaving the castle to portray the desires and nightmares of simple people in his paintings. Soon the Inquisition is on his trail. Konrad Wolf films Lion Feuchtwanger’s historical novel as a modern, colourful, parallel. How closely can an artist align himself with the powers that be if he wants to be honest and creative? Donatas Banionis

Genre Feature Director Konrad Wolf Screenplay Konrad Wolf was born in Hechingen in 1925 and Angel Wagenstein, based on a novel by Lion Feucht- died in Berlin in 1982. He was a son of Friedrich Wolf, wanger Directors of Photography Werner the writer. In 1933, the family emigrated and arrived in Bergmann, Konstantin Ryshow Editor Alexandra the Soviet Union in 1934. At the age of eighteen, Wolf Borowskaja Music by Kara and Faradsh Karajew joined the Red Army and came to Germany, as lieuten- Production Company DEFA, Babelsberg, in co- ant in 1945. He studied directing at the Moscow Film production with Len-Film, St. Petersburg Principal School in 1949 and worked as assistant director to Kurt Cast Donatas Banionis, Olivera Katarina, Fred Düren, Maetzig at the DEFA Studios in 1953. After his first Rolf Hoppe, Ernst Busch Length 134 min., 3.662 m. feature film as a director Einmal ist keinmal Format 35 mm, colour, cs Year of Production (1955), he worked at the DEFA Feature Film Studios. 1971 Original Version German Subtitled From 1965, Wolf was president of the GDR’s Academy Versions English, French, Spanish Sound Techno- of Arts. His major films include: Genesung (1956), logy Mono Lissy (1957), Sonnensucher (1958), Sterne (1959), Der geteilte Himmel (1964), Ich war 19 (1968), Der nackte Mann auf dem Sportplatz (1974), Mama, ich lebe (1977) and Busch singt (six part series for GDR Television, 1982).

World Sales: Progress Film-Verleih GmbH · Christel Jansen, Miriam Reisner GERMAN CLASSIC MOVIE Burgstr. 27 · D-10178 Berlin phone: +49-30-24 00 32 02 · fax: +49-30-24 00 32 22 www.progress-film.de · email: [email protected]

35 Heimat

Heimat is about leaving and returning. About the respect one has for one’s work and home and about living on credit. About mothers and sons. About fathers and how early morning light shines into the room. About summer clothes and uniforms. About the three eggs on the window sill. About that first car and about radio tubes. About saying goodbye and the key behind the window shutter. About animals and motorcycles. About brothels in Berlin and about falling in love for the first time. About kitchens and attics. About aeroplanes and chocolate. About bomb-disposal units and discovering faith. It is about the differences between men and women. About the loaf of bread you hold up against your chest to slice. About pillows and chewing gums. About prayers during the night and weddings by proxy. About the hammer and the anvil. It is about the dawn of a new age and about grandmothers. About the construction of highways and feet that walk 5000 kilometres to get home. About a letter from the USA and about blueberries. About air raids, hair-do’s and bank loans. And always about rolling stones gathering no moss. Marita Breuer

Genre Feature Director Edgar Reitz Screenplay Edgar Reitz is one of the founders of the New Edgar Reitz, Peter Steinbach Director of Photo- German Cinema. He was born in Hunsrück in 1932. He graphy Gernot Roll Editor Heidi Handorf Music earned degrees in theatre and in art history. He was by Nikos Mamangakis Producer Edgar Reitz one of the signiatories of the Oberhausen Manifesto in Production Company Edgar Reitz Filmproduktion, 1962; the call to arms which led to the New German Munich, in co-production with WDR, Cologne, SFB, Cinema. Together with filmmaker Alexander Kluge he is Berlin Principal Cast Marita Breuer, Dieter Schaad, co-founder of the Institut für Filmgestaltung in Ulm. Michael Lesch, Gertrud Bredel, Willi Burger, Gudrun Reitz has directed various shorts, documentaries and Landgrebe Length 940 min., 25.478 m. Format 35 features. They include: Krebsforschung I + II mm, colour and b&w, 1:1,66 Original Version (documentary, 1960), Post und Technik (1961), German Subtitled Versions English, Italian, French Mahlzeiten (feature, 1966/67), In Gefahr und Sound Technology Mono International größter Not bringt der Mittelweg den Tod Festival Screenings Venice 84, Montréal (feature, in collaboration with Alexander Kluge, 1974), (Nouveau Cinéma) 84, Valladolid 84, London 84 Stunde Null (1976), (fea- German Distributor Arri Media Worldsales, ture, in collaboration with Fassbinder, Schlöndorff, Munich Kluge and others, 1977/78), Der Schneider von Ulm (feature, 1978), Heimat (1980-84), Second Heimat (feature, 1993). Reitz is currently working on a third part of Heimat, Heimat 2000.

World Sales: Arri Media Worldsales · Antonio Exacoustos GERMAN CLASSIC MOVIE Türkenstr. 95 · D-80799 Munich phone: +49-89-38 09 12 88 · fax: +49-89-38 09 14 33 www.arri.de · email: [email protected]

36

A Tale Of Two Cities – Eine Erzählung von zwei Städten A TALE OF TWO CITIES

”When I arrived in Berlin in August 1945 and saw the destruction I knew just how lucky I’d been.“ Berlin-born photographer Heinz Ries no longer calls himself Heinz, but Henry Ries. Now a naturalised American living in New York, as a Jewish German he fled from the Nazis to the United States in 1938. A Tale Of Two Cities accompanies the 82-year old Henry Ries on a visit to Berlin in the summer of 1999. With a box full of old photos under Adlon Percy his arm he revisits the places he had photographed before and after the war. The film is not only about Henry Ries, who once again travels through Berlin with his camera, but also, through the eyes of a former Berliner who was robbed of his city by the Nazis, accurately reconstructs the city's history at selected locations. A stroll with a man who, decades on, pho- tographs the ”new Berlin“ and finds a ”second“ city. Henry Ries

Genre Documentary Director/Screenplay/ Manfred Wilhelms was originally a painter and photo- Director of Photography/Editor/ grapher before undergoing a complete metamorphosis into a Producer Manfred Wilhelms Production self-taught filmmaker and cinematographer. As a part-time Company Lassoband-Filmproduktion, Berlin student, he took part in seminars given by Helmut Färber on With Henry Ries Length 90 min., 1.065 m. the films of Griffith, Ozu and Renoir. He has made short TV Format 16 mm, colour, 1:1,37 Original features - a minimal concession to his professional career. Version German Subtitled Version English Wilhelms lives in Berlin and has made the following docu- Sound Technology Mono mentaries: Licht singt tausendfache Lieder (1985), Die Loreley (1988), Menschenrechte (TV, 1989), Rostige Bilder (1990-92), Route des Crêtes (1993), Die Rennstrecke (1994), Laufen um zu leben (1995), Berlin – Pictures of a City (1995-98), Nightwalk (1999) and Die Legende vom Potsdamer Platz (2000).

World Sales: please contact Lassoband-Filmproduktion · Manfred Wilhelms Fürbringerstr. 11 · D-10961 Berlin phone: +49-30-6 93 84 42 · fax: +49-30-6 92 53 22

38 alaska.de

Sixteen year old Sabine, permanently in trouble with her mother’s boyfriend, is sent to live with her father in a suburb of East Berlin. Feeling herself completely lost, the first person she meets is Eddie, a boy of her own age, and his best friend Micha. But Micha, two years older, is unemployed and in constant trouble with the police. His welcome home party turns into a nightmare as he, Eddie and friend Stefan get into a vicious fight with another boy. It’s Eddie who stabs the boy to death. It’s Sabine who walks in to see the bleeding corpse. It’s Micha she sees running away, the knife in his hands. The boys are terrified at what they’ve done. After a threatening phone call to silence Sabine Micha decides to take heavier measures. Things go from worse to … Jana Pallaske, Frank Droese Jana Pallaske,

Genre Feature Director/Screenplay Esther Esther Gronenborn, who learnt her trade at the Gronenborn Director of Photography Jan Fehse Academy for Television & Film in Munich (HFF), has Editor Christian Lonk Music by Moser, Meyer, two specialities: documentaries and shorts. Among Döring Producers Eberhard Junkersdorf, Dietmar the latter can be counted the many music videos she Güntsche Production Company Bioskop-Film, has directed for such artists as Schweisser, Munich, in co-production with Shorts Productions, Spektacoolär, La Bouche, Touché and Alisha (for the Berlin, Studio Babelsberg Independents, Potsdam, ORB, Indian market). Her documentaries include Die Potsdam, Kinowelt Filmproduktion, Munich Principal Strasse zum Glück (45 min., video) about Cast Jana Pallaske, Frank Droese Length 89 min., China’s special economic zones, and I Wonder In 2.450 m. Format 35 mm, colour, cs Original Pornoland (30 min.). The latter, which she made Version German Subtitled Version English in 1990, was screened, among others, at the Max Sound Technology Dolby SR With backing Ophuls Festival in Saarbrücken and the Munich from Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MFG Baden- Documentary Filmfest before gaining an arthouse Württemberg German Distributor Arthaus/ release. Not without a sense of humour, she has also Filmverleih GmbH, Berlin directed a documentary satire, Sie schämen sich ihrer Tränen nicht.

World Sales: Kinowelt International GmbH · Alexander van Dülmen Neue Schönhauser Str. 20 · D-10178 Berlin phone: +49-30-3 00 69 70 fax: +49-30-30 06 97 11 www.kinowelt.de · email: [email protected]

39 Apokalypse 99 – Anatomie eines Amokläufers

Nuclear power and naked ambition are the recipe for disaster when Vladimir Samailov, direc- tor of a Russian powerplant, overrules his safety director, Vladimir Mentschov, who knows the place is a timebomb. And to ensure he stays quiet Samailov has him fired. Mentschov's successor, Oleg Gusenko, is just as critical but Samailov continues to put career before conscience. So Mentschov, slowly losing his grip on sanity, manipulates the cooling system to make the reactor overheat and so prove the safety valves will fail. As news of what he's done spreads among the population like wildfire, Oleg and his wife Larissa, of whom Mentschov is very fond, try to reason with him. But the very safety problems Mentschov is trying to highlight mean he can't reverse his actions. Racing towards disaster, they all struggle to prevent the looming catastrophe. , Karoline Eichhorn Karoline Ulrich Tukur,

Dmitri Astrachan was born in 1957 in Leningrad, Genre Feature Director Dmitri Astrachan today St. Petersburg. Aged 25 he graduated from the Screenplay K. Laske, M. Klaschka Director Leningrad State Institute For Theatre, Music And of Photography A. F. Rud Editor L. Mikulo, Cinema having majored in playwriting. From 1982 L. Birkenhof Music by Alexej Grigoriew until 1987 he was Director and Artistic Director of Producer Artur Brauner Production the Sverdlovsk Youth Theatre. In 1987 he became Companies CCC Filmkunst, Berlin, Gran Film, head of the famous Bolshoi Theatre. Four years later Moscow Principal Cast Thomas Heinze, he was invited to lead the St. Petersburg Academic Ulrich Tukur, Karoline Eichhorn, Jurij Kukura Comedy. In 1995 he left the theatre to concentrate Length 90 min., 2.462 m. Format 35 mm, on film production. Among his award winning films colour, 1:1,66 Original Version are Get Thee Out! (1991, director, producer, wri- German/Russian Sound Technology Dolby ter) which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Stereo Film and From Hell To Hell (1996) which was entered in the same category. His other films include You Are The Only One (1993), Everything Will Be OK (1993), Anatomie eines Amokläufers and Lady of Kazakhstan (2000). World Sales: please contact CCC Filmkunst GmbH · Fela Brauner Verlängerte Daumstr. 16 · D-13599 Berlin phone: +49-30-3 34 20 01 · fax: +49-30-3 34 04 18

40 Der Bebuquin – Rendezvous mit Carl Einstein BEBUQUIN – A RENDEZVOUS WITH CARL EINSTEIN

Carl Einstein (1885-1940) was one of the most colourful great minds between the World Wars. The first to understand Cubism as a movement, he was a well-known and influential art critic and theorist in his own day. Among many other groundbreaking efforts, his ‘Negro Sculpture’ (1915) was a pioneering work of art theory. It was the first in Europe to recognize the validity of African art. His true aspirations, however, were focused on literature, and he laboured to create something on the level of Bebuquin all

his life, calling his work in progress, ’Beb II.‘ ”I have Adlon Percy to create a lawful but different art,“ he said, ”or I’ll fail my purpose in life . I’d only be a journalist, which is tantamount to suicide.“ Politically engaged and Jewish, both he and his literary reputation fell victim to the Holocaust. Scenes from Carl Einstein’s anti-novel ‘Bebuquin or the Dilettantes of Wonder’ (1909) are interwoven with thoughts and situations from the author’s life. Played by Hanns Zischler, Bebuquin is Carl Einstein – Carl Einstein is Bebuquin. Wandering in an empty and lethargic world, Bebuquin is one seeking the ”wonder“. The film is a fragmentary montage of art and life, depicting the ironic and grotesque, as well as tragic situations. Connie Webs, Hanns Zischler Connie Webs,

Genre Feature Director Lilo Mangelsdorff Lilo Mangelsdorff was born in Frankfurt/Main. Screenplay Lilo Mangelsdorff, based on texts by Carl She studied educational science, psychology and visual Einstein Director of Photography Sophie Maintigneux communication. She worked as an editor for TV and Editor Lilo Mangelsdorff Music by Marek Goldowski private studios and managed a television production Producer Lilo Mangelsdorff Production Company studio. From 1992 to 1995 she was assistant professor Cinetix Medien und Interface, Cologne Principal Cast in video and interactive media at the Academy of Hanns Zischler, Andreas Wellano, Connie Webs Media Arts in Cologne. In 1983 Lilo Mangelsdorff Length 80 min., 2.268 m. Format 35 mm, colour, 1:1,66 founded Cinetix, a media arts company for media Original Version German Subtitled Version English productions, web projects, interactive installations, Sound Technology Dolby SR With backing from videos and films. She has made many short films, hr-Filmförderung, MFG Baden-Württemberg, Filmstiftung including: Zwischen zwei Städten (1984), Viva NRW avis (1985), Das sind wir (1995) and Happy and Ö (1989, medium-length). Der Bebuquin: - Rendezvous mit Carl Einstein is her first full World Sales: please contact length feature film. Cinetix Medien und Interface GmbH Lilo Mangelsdorff Gemündenerstr. 27 · D-60599 Frankfurt/Main phone: +49-69-68 51 05 · fax: +49-69-68 60 04 09 www.cinetix.de · email: [email protected] 41 Deeply

A love story about finding yourself from out of the greatest loss you can experience. After the sudden and violent death of her first love, teenager Claire McKay retreats into herself. Her mother Fiona brings her to Ironbound, a remote island, hoping the change from the city may effect some healing magic. Ironbound had once been a thriving fishing community until the fish stocks had mysteriously disappeared some fifty years prior. Its wild loneliness only aug- ments Claire's withdrawal until she meets Celia, an eccentric writer who tells her the story she has been writing, a story not yet finished: Years before, when the fish still teemed and the island bustled with an active industry, a child was born – a girl – who was nicknamed Silly and the name stuck. When her eyes suddenly changed from brown to the hues of the sea, the islanders looked at her knowingly. Silly grew up into a wild and untamed teenager, becoming an eccentric outcast. Then came the day the fish disappeared, and the islanders looked at her secretively, muttering about an ancient Viking curse. Every fifty years the fish mysteriously leave the island waters. And every fifty years one innocent soul is doomed to live forever beneath the waves in exchange for their bounty … Trent Ford, Kirsten Dunst Ford, Trent

Genre Feature Director/Screenplay Sheri Elwood Writer-director Sheri Elwood left filmschool with Director of Photography Sebastian Edschmid The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television’s Editor Jon Gregory Music by Micki Meuser National Apprenticeship Training Award. She Producers Carolynne Bell, Karen Arikian, Wolfram apprenticed on the series Ready Or Not, then Tichy Production Companies VIP, Potsdam, wrote, directed and story edited thirty-six episodes. Bellwood Stories Production, Toronto, in association Her producing debut, the short Fellini And Me, with TiMe Filmproduktion, Potsdam Principal Cast won Best Drama Under Sixty Minutes at the Columbus Kirsten Dunst, Lynn Redgrave, Julia Brendler, Trent Ford Film Festival. She was Creative Consultant-Writer on Length 94 min., 2.571 m. Format 35 mm, colour, comedy series Flash Forward before writing-direc- 1:1,85 Original Version English Sound ting the short, Eb And Flo. In 1997 she won the Technology Dolby SRD Women In Film And Television-Toronto’s Writer’s Award to develop her feature, Deeply (1999). She co-created and is Head Writer of the series I Was A Sixth Grade Alien, now in its second season. Her new projects include the feature Galaxy 5000 and an adaption of stage play Clue In The World Sales: Fast Lane. Myriad Pictures · Kirk D’Amico 429 Santa Monica Boulevard · Suite 350 USA-Santa Monica, CA 90401 phone: +1-3 10-8 99 68 00 · fax: +1-3 10-8 99 68 01 www.myriadpictures.com · email: [email protected] 42 Ein Mensch wie Dieter – Golzower A GUY LIKE DIETER – NATIVE OF GOLZOW

When the children of Golzow first came to school in 1961, Dieter was already there. Fate had not been kind to him, the boy with the face that couldn’t conceal anything, though Dieter never played on his misfortune. Throughout his life, this cheerful, go-getter person always made the best of what was dished out to him. Dieter comes from one of Golzow’s large families. The eldest of six child- ren, he grew up on an Oderbruch-farm or, as he puts it, in the wilds. After eighth grade he left school, trained as carpenter, and was then called up for military service. Percy Adlon Percy After the end of the Vietnam war Dieter wanted to dive for mines in Hai-Phong harbour or even to become a sailor in the merchant navy. He did neither. Dieter fathered a daughter, got married, became a city-dweller and earned his living through car- pentry. But a few years later he was again gripped by wanderlust when he was sold to West Germany as cheap labour. Dieter Finger

Genre Documentary Directors/Screenplay Winfried Junge was born in 1935 in Berlin. From Barbara Junge, Winfried Junge Directors of 1953 he studied German at the Humboldt University, Photography Hans Eberhard Leupold, Harald Klix Berlin, changing to the newly founded German Film- and others Editor Barbara Gummert school in Potsdam-Babelsberg in 1954. He graduated in Music by Gerhard Rosenfeld Producer Klaus- 1958 and began work at the DEFA studio for popular Dieter Schmutzer Production Company à jour film, moving to the DEFA studio for in Film- und Fernsehproduktion, Berlin, in co-produc- 1961 and making his first film in the same year: When I tion with DEFA-Foundation, Berlin, ORB, Potsdam, Finally Go To School, the first in the Golzow series. SR, Saarbrücken, SWR, Stuttgart With Dieter Apart from the 16 Golzow films he has made some 35 Finger and his family Length 122 min., 3.344 m. documentaries. His wife, Barbara Junge, was born in Format 35 mm, colour and b&w, 1:1,37 Original 1943 in Neunhofen and graduated from Karl-Marx- Version German Subtitled Version English University, Leipzig, as an English and Russian translator. Sound Technology Dolby SR With backing From 1969 she worked at the DEFA studio for docu- from BKM, Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg mentary film in charge of foreign language versions. Since International Festival Screenings Berlin 1978 she has been archivist of the Golzow project, 2000: Forum German Distributor Progress has edited all of Winfried Junge’s films since 1983 and Film-Verleih GmbH, Berlin since 1993 has also co-directed.

World Sales: Progress Film-Verleih GmbH Brigitte Paetsch, Christel Jansen Burgstr. 27 · D-10178 Berlin phone: +49-30-24 00 32 00 · fax: +49-30-24 00 32 22 www.progress-film.de · email: [email protected] 43 Erotic Tales: Die Nachtschwester THE NIGHT NURSE

It all started with a toothache. Then the boss called to say he was needed. Extra duty – to guard a gangster for the night in an emergency ward. Konzak was sorry he ever became a cop. Besides, the prisoner was a moody boxer-type, and the temperature at the hospital was like in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Sweat was already dripping down his back when the nightnurse stopped by on her rounds. A sway of the hips, the look in her eye, she was a real knockout. Konzak forgot the toothache and the prisoner.

Genre Short Director/Screenplay Bernd Born in 1964 in Cottbus, eastern Germany, Bernd Heiber Director of Photography Konstantin Heiber graduated highschool in 1982. After two years’ Kroening Editor Haike Brauer Music by Kai-Uwe national service he started at the Theater Cottbus as a Kohlschmidt Producer Tanja Ziegler stagehand. From 1986-89 he was director’s assistant at Percy Adlon Percy Production Company Regina Ziegler Film, the Theater Senftenberg. He co-wrote and directed his Berlin, in co-production with WDR, Cologne first play, Kanguru, in 1989. From 1992-98 he studied Principal Cast Paul Fassnacht, Franziska Petri, direction at the Film and Television Academy ”Konrad Wilfried Hochholdinger, Hildegard Alex Wolf“ in Potsdam-Babelsberg. His films include the Length 28 min., 766 m. Format 35 mm, colour, documentary It Is It (1993), and the shorts, which 1:1,85 Original Version German Subtitled he wrote and directed, Wind (1994), Scheissleben Version English Sound Technology Dolby SR (1996) and Das Klopfen (1998). Paul Fassnacht, Franziska Petri Paul

Erotic Tales: Kimono

A hot summer day on a country road. A young woman in her bridal dress gets kicked out of a car. Lost and frustrated, she wanders off across a sea of grass into dark woods - and discovers an abandoned house. Tired and worn out, she lies down on a bed. When she is awakened from her nap by a clap of thunder she sees a cup of steaming hot tea and a package on the floor. She opens it and finds a kimono. The bride knows she is no longer alone. But should she put on the kimono?

Genre Short Director/Screenplay Hal Hartley Hal Hartley made his first films at art school in Director of Photography Sarah Cawley Boston, then studied directing and editing at the State Editor Steve Silkensen Music by Hal Hartley University of New York, graduating in 1984. In 1986 Producer Regina Ziegler Production he started working as producer and writer for Action Company Regina Ziegler Film, Berlin, in co-pro- Productions which lead to his first feature, The duction with WDR, Cologne Principal Cast Unbelievable Truth (1989). His other films include Miho Nikaido-Ling, Valerie Celis, Yun Shen Length Simple Men (1992), Flirt (1995) and 28 min., 788 m. Format 35 mm, colour, 1:1,85 (1998). Original Version no dialogue Sound Technology Dolby SR

World Sales: Atlas International Film GmbH · Dieter Menz, Stefan Menz, Christl Blum Rumfordstr. 29-31 · D-80469 Munich phone: +49-89-2 10 97 50 · fax: +49-89-22 43 32 www.atlasfilm.com · email: [email protected]

44 Fernes Land Pa-Isch FAR AWAY COUNTRY PA-ISCH

Sixteen-year-old Umberto is fed up with life. His mother Ilona frequently changes her lovers. His father disappeared (it is said that he worked as a circus acrobat and had an accident). The father of his younger half-sister, Bianca, went back to Africa. Umberto’s dream is to leave the sad, small town in Saxony where they live. Ilona decides to move the family to Hamburg, trying to find a better life. Umberto falls in love with Tschibo, a black girl living next door. Umberto is irritated when he finds out that his mother and Tschibo work as prostitutes. He tries to save Bianca and himself, to leave for Africa, for distant ”Pa-Isch“. After a turbulent journey on a stolen motorbike, they arrive in Berlin where they meet ”Le Pain“ and his gang who live in the ruins of an old factory. Umberto tries to earn money doing more or less legal

jobs. When he realises that his dream can’t come true Adlon Percy he starts a large fire . Nana Abrokwa, Jens Schumann Nana Abrokwa,

Genre Feature Director Rainer Simon Screen- Rainer Simon was born in Hainichen in 1941. play Günther Saalmann, Rainer Simon Director of From 1961 - 1965 he studied at the ”Konrad Wolf“ Photography Sebastian Richter Editor Helga Gentz Academy for Film & Television in Babelsberg. In 1964 Music by Friedrich Schenker, Gruppe Saraba, Klaus he made his graduation film, Peterle und die Knapp Producer Dorothea Hildebrandt Production Weihnachtsgans Auguste. He then worked as Company Studio Babelsberg, Potsdam Principal an assistant director under Ralf Kirsten and Konrad Cast Renate Krößner, Meret Becker, Jens Schumann, Wolf, making his debut as a director of feature films Nana Abrokwa Length 93 min., 2.550 m. Format 35 in 1969 with Wie heiratet man einen König. mm, colour, 1:1,66 Original Version German His major films are: Männer ohne Bart (1971), Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Sechse kommen durch die Welt (1972), Dolby Stereo With backing from BKM, Länder Till Eulenspiegel (1975), Zünd an, es kommt Brandenburg, Sachsen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, die Feuerwehr (1979), Jadup und Boel Hamburger Filmbüro German Distributor Progress (1981/88), Die Frau und der Fremde (1985), Film-Verleih GmbH, Berlin Die Besteigung des Chimborazo (1989), Der Fall Ö. (1991) and Fernes Land Pa-Isch (1994/2000).

World Sales: Progress Film-Verleih GmbH · Christel Jansen, Miriam Reisner Burgstr. 27 · D-10178 Berlin phone: +49-30-24 00 32 25 · fax: +49-30-24 00 32 22 www.progress-film.de · email: [email protected]

45 Gangster

A love story between Vincent, a petty gangster, and Mona, a policeman’s daughter. During a nocturnal round of poker in the red-light district, Vincent loses his woman to Siggi, a pimp known for his brutal ways. The problem’s not just that Vincent has to come up with 60.000 marks within a few days to stop the pimp from rounding on their flat; the problem is also that Mona mustn’t know of the whole affair because she’s just trying to convince her father, Inspector Kubel, that Vincent has started a new life. It seems as if Vincent is doomed to criminal ways yet again when the pimp unexpectedly turns up with a gangster named Duvall who is wanted for arrest. Siggi, for his part, has to settle some gambling debts and since he is short of cash, he has passed Mona on to the top gangster – who doesn’t make matters less complicated by planning to give the supposed whore to his boss … Christian Redl, Laura Tonke (photo © Volker Einrauch) (photo © Volker Christian Redl, Laura Tonke

Genre Feature Director Volker Einrauch Screen- Volker Einrauch was born in Kassel in 1950. He play Lothar Kurzawa Director of Photography studied philosophy, German literature, politics and Stephan Spreer Editor Nana Meyer Music by Rainer history. He has been employed in the arts depart- J.G. Uhl Producer Lothar Kurzawa Production ments of various radio stations and magazines and Company Josefine Filmproduktion, Hamburg, in co- works as a writer and director. His films include: production with WDR, Cologne, arte, Strasbourg Uncertain Is The Future Of The Body- Principal Cast Frank Giering, Laura Tonke, Dietmar guard (Ungewiss ist die Zukunft der Mues, Saskia Vester, Christian Redl Length 2.600 m., Leibwächter, 1989), And If It Doesn’t Work? 90 min. Format 35 mm, colour, 1:1,85 Original (Und wenn’s nicht klappt, 1990), A False Version German Subtitled Version English Step (Ein falscher Schritt, screenplay, 1994), Sound Technology Dolby SR With backing The Killer’s Mother (Die Mutter des from FilmFörderung Hamburg International Killers, 1996), Everything Because Of Festival Screenings Hof99 Mother (Und alles wegen Mama, screenplay, 1998), Gangster (1999).

World Sales: Media Luna · Ida Martins Alter Markt 36-42 · D-50667 Cologne phone: +49-2 21-1 39 22 22 · fax: +49-2 21-1 39 22 24 email: [email protected]

46 Gespräch im Gebirg DIALOGUE IN THE MOUNTAINS

A cinematic essay based on writer and poet Paul Celan’s 1959 prose work ’Conversation In The Mountains’, and which also addresses the difficult relationship between words and images. In July 1959, the Jewish writer Paul Celan travelled with his wife and child to Sils-Maria on vacation. Celan wanted to meet the philosopher Theodor W. Adorno in Engadin. Adorno’s famous comment, to write poetry after Ausschwitz is barbaric, had caused a controversy that still reverberates today. But Adorno didn’t show up and the meeting never took place. Celan broke off his holiday and returned to Paris where he wrote the impressive piece of poetic prose, ’Conversation In The Mountains’. In it he describes the meeting between two Jews at night in the mountains. Mattias Caduff’s film searches for a personal inroad into this difficult

piece of literature by observing himself as a reader. Adlon Percy Mattias Caduff

Genre Documentary Director Mattias Caduff Mattias Caduff was born in Switzerland, in Screenplay Mattias Caduff, based on the story Zurich, in 1962. He studied sculpture at the State ’Conversation In The Mountains’ by Paul Celan Art Academy in Düsseldorf from 1980-1990 and Director of Photography Stephan Sachs did his postgraduate studies, from 1992-1994, at Editors Mattias Caduff, Cilly Probst Producers the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. He began Mattias Caduff, Werner Schweizer Production working as an independent filmmaker in 1995 Company Mattias-Caduff-Filmproduktion, Düsseldorf, and was a fellow of the Academy of Media Arts in co-production with Dschoint Ventschr Cologne from 1996-1997. He lives in Basel and is Filmproduktion, Zurich With Mattias Caduff currently teaching at Zurich’s Academy for Design Length 59 min., 679 m. Format 16 mm, colour, and Art. His films are: Blindnis (short documen- 1:1,66 Original Version German Subtitled tary, 1994) and Dialogue In The Mountains Versions English, French Sound Technology Mono (Gespräch im Gebirg, 2 1999) With backing from Filmbüro NW, FilmFörderung Hamburg, Academy of Media Arts Cologne, Alfred- Richterich-Foundation, Filmwerkstatt Düsseldorf, Eidgenössisches Department des Innern, Kanton Graubünden International Festival Screenings Berlin 2000: New German Films, Nyon 2000

World Sales: please contact Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion · Susa Katz Zentralstr. 156 · CH-8003 Zurich phone: +41-1-4 56 30 20 · fax: +41-1-4 56 30 25 www.dschointventschr.ch · email: [email protected]

47 Gran Paradiso

Following an accident 19-year old Mark is confined to a wheelchair unable to accept he will never walk again. When he tries to kill himself his therapist, Lisa, saves him by promising to make his dream come true: climbing the icy peak of the 13,000 ft high Gran Paradiso in the Alps. But financial and bureaucratic problems get in the way so Lisa comes up with a daring plan and enlists her friend and colleague Martin who works in a youth prison. It’s a strange group which finally sets off up the mountain: Mark, Lisa with the mentally handicapped odd couple Rosi and Harpo, and Martin with the juvenile delinquents recruited to carry Mark: Wolf, the charismatic leader of fellow inmates Edwin and Rocky, a clumsy skinhead and a streetwise Turk who are always fighting. Percy Adlon Percy Physical hardships are soon forgotten as prejudices and mental barriers prove a bigger problem. The quest becomes a painful test of solidarity. The very disparate characters bond as they struggle through the magnificent mountainscape with its limitless horizons. In the end, reaching the peak is no longer an issue. They have learned to appreciate new values: friendship and tolerance. The people who come down are not the ones went up. Ken Duken, Gregor Törzs Gregor Duken, Ken

Genre Feature Director Miguel Alexandre Screen- Miguel Alexandre graduated from the Academy for play Georg Heinzen Director of Photography Television & Film (HFF) in Munich in 1994. Just one year Peter Indergand Editor Inge Behrens Music by earlier his 1992 short film, About War, had been Dominic Roth Producer Henrik Meyer Production nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Student Film. Company Studio Hamburg Letterbox, in co-produc- Since then he has been flexing his directorial and authorial tion with Monty Film, Cologne, Warner Bros. muscles for German television on TV movies, series and Filmproduktion, Hamburg Principal Cast Ken drama. And collecting more plaudits along the way. Duken, Regula Grauwiller, Gregor Törzs Length 100 Movie-of-the-week, Der Pakt (1996), won him the min., 2.736 m. Format 35 mm, colour, cs Original for Best New Director, the Telestar for Best New Version German Sound Technology Dolby SR Director and the 3SAT-Viewer’s Award. The drama Nana With backing from FilmFörderung Hamburg, was nominated in 1997 for the Grimme Award and the Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA) German Distributor German Youth Video Award. Gran Paradiso (1999) is Warner Bros. Film GmbH, Hamburg his first feature and will be distributed by Warner Bros.

World Sales: please contact Studio Hamburg Letterbox · Henrik Meyer Jenfelder Allee 80 · D-22039 Hamburg phone: +49-40-66 88 55 13 · fax: +49-40-66 88 55 60 email: [email protected]

48 Havanna, mi amor

Every evening the inhabitants of Havana gather in front of their TV’s to submerge themselves in the world of Telenovelas. These days it seems as though the ancient Soviet television sets can no longer fulfil their wish to escape reality. Havanna, mi amor tells of their struggle in those images, and the relationship between their everyday lives and the endless soap opera episodes. A homage to love, old television sets, and to one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Percy Adlon Percy Scene from »Havanna, Scene from mi amor«

Genre Documentary Director/Screenplay Uli Born in 1968, Uli Gaulke entered the ”Konrad Gaulke Director of Photography Axel Schneppat Wolf“ Academy for Film & Television in Babelsberg Editor Uli Gaulke Music by Los Zafiros in 1995. His first film, Somewhere In Germany Producer Helge Albers Production Company (1996, short) was followed that year by the documen- Flying Moon Filmproduktion, Berlin, in co-production tary Yellow Land – Green Land. In 1997 his with HFF ”Konrad Wolf“, Babelsberg, ORB, Potsdam, documentary Quién es el último – Who Is Studio Babelsberg Independents, Potsdam With Last In Line, aired on local TV and toured the Inhabitants of Havana Length 80 min., 2.334 m. world’s festivals: Taiwan, Germany, Italy, Scotland, Format 35 mm, colour, 1:1,85 Original Version United States, Croatia, Poland, Czech Republic, Spanish Subtitled Versions German, English Portugal and Bangladesh. Among its awards, the 1998 Sound Technology Dolby SR With backing Director’s Choice Award (UFVA Touring Festival of from Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg International International Student Film & Video, Philadelphia). Festival Screenings Berlin 2000: Forum German His other films are No One Laughs Backwards Distributor Salzgeber & Co. Medien GmbH, Berlin (1998, short), Mr. Kühn And His Art (documen- tary, 1998), Heinz Mewius (documentary, 1999) and Havanna, mi amor which opened the International Forum of New Cinema, 2000, in Berlin.

World Sales: EuroArts International · Teresa Dokey Wilmersdorfer Str. 79 · D-10629 Berlin phone: +49-30-32 78 39 29 · fax: +49-30-32 78 39 18 www.euroarts.com · email: [email protected]

49 Höre nie auf anzufangen – Der Ufa-Star Carola Höhn NEVER STOP BEGINNING – THE UFA-STAR CAROLA HÖHN

Between 1934 and the end of the war, Carola Höhn appeared in over 30 films. In April, April and Zu neuen Ufern she starred in films directed by Douglas Sirk. Johannes Heesters was her partner in Der Bettelstudent, Willi Forst in Königswalzer,

Percy Adlon Percy Hans Moser in Liebe streng verboten and Heinz Rühmann in Hurra, ich bin Papa. Unlike the femme fatale Zarah Leander or the sing and dance queen Marika Rökk, Carola Höhn specialised in playing modern, intelligent, open-minded young women. After 1945 she made appearances on stage in Berlin, Vienna, Munich, Bremen and Hannover. She was the German voice of stars like Katherine Hepburn, Irene Dunne, Maureen O’Hara and Danielle Darrieux. Theses dubbing assignments brought her from Berlin to Munich in 1950. In 1994 Carola Höhn returned to the Berlin stage, playing the role of Mrs. Higgins in at the Theater des Westens. ”Don’t ever begin to give up – don’t ever give up beginning“ is the motto of the ever-young and full-blooded actress. Robert Fischer has made this lively and passionate portrait, presenting numerous film clips, and newly shot footage of colleageus, friends and family, but above all – and in detail – Carola Höhn herself. Carola Höhn Carola

Genre Documentary Director/Screenplay Robert Fischer was born 1954 in Greven, Westphalia. Robert Fischer Directors of Photography He soon became one of Germany’s foremost film historians, Florian Sutor, Dieter Hohnhausen, Leo Potesil, publishing books on , , David Hermann Sojewa, Achim Hepers, Brian Scully Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, Bernhard Wicki and François Editor Natalie Kurz Producer Loy W. Arnold Truffaut. Together with Joe Hembus he wrote a history of Production Company BR, Munich, in co- the new German Cinema. After a five-year stint as Vice production with Transit Film, Munich, in coopera- Director at the Munich Film Museum, Fischer switched to tion with Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Foundation, full-time filmmaking in 1999. His documentary film Wiesbaden With Carola Höhn, Bruni Löbel, Monsieur Truffaut Meets Mr. Hitchcock was Hansi Wendler, Johannes Heesters, Eric Pleskow shown at numerous film festivals, including Locarno and Length 50 min., 1.425 m. Format 35 mm, Pordenone. He is currently developing a feature-length docu- colour and b&w, 1:1,66 Original Version mentary on child actors as well as two feature films. His films German Sound Technology Mono Comopt are: Strange Behaviour Of Moving Pictures (1978, German Distributor Transit Film GmbH, short), Monsieur Truffaut Meets Mr. Hitchcock Munich (1999, documentary) and Never Stop Beginning - The Ufa Star Carola Höhn (2000, documentary.)

World Sales: Transit Film GmbH · Loy W. Arnold Dachauer Str. 35 · D-80335 Munich phone: +49-89-5 99 88 50 · fax: +49-89-59 98 85 20 email: [email protected]

50 Honolulu

Honolulu’s seven different stories portray a weekend on the edge of a large city: strange coincidences, life-changing decisions, unavoidable fates or just simply refreshing banalities. A completely normal weekend. But like every weekend the most important one in the lives of the young people we meet in the film. Snapshots of joie-de-vivre full of contra- dictions, driven by the lust for love and life. 24 hours giving it loads: all dressed up … setting off … getting there … or maybe not. Percy Adlon Percy Jochen Nickel, StefanJochen Nickel, Maaß

Genre Feature Directors/Screenplay Uschi Uschi Ferstl (born 1968), Florian Gallenberger Ferstl, Florian Gallenberger, Saskia Jell, Vanessa (born 1972), Saskia Jell (born 1970), Vanessa Jopp, Matthias Lehmann, Beryl Schennen, Sandra Jopp, Matthias Lehmann (born 1969), Beryl Schmidt Director of Photography Tomas Schennen and Sandra Schmidt (born 1970) are Erhart Editor Barbara von Weitershausen all students of the Academy for Television & Film Music by various artists Producer Reinhard (HFF) in Munich. Klooss Production Company Odeon Film, Munich, in co-production with BR, Munich Principal Cast Anna Thalbach, Markus Knüfken, Steffen Wink, Eva Haßmann, Stefan Maaß, Jochen Nickel, Mina Tander, Shira Fleisher, Alexandra Maria Lara, Julia Hummer Length 90 min., 1.057 m. Format Super 16, colour Original Version German Sound Technology Dolby SR With backing from FilmFernseh- Fonds Bayern

World Sales: Bavaria Film International · Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH Thorsten Schaumann, Michael Weber Bavariafilmplatz 8 · D- 82031 Geiselgasteig phone: +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax: +49-89-64 99 37 20 www.bavaria-film-international.de · email: [email protected] 51 Kasachstan Lady LADY OF KAZAKHSTAN

Daniel, a young musician, is forced to take in his orphaned cousin, Ekatarina, from Kazakhstan. Although less than enthusiastic to begin with, the two get on unexpectedly well. She shares his love of music and inspires him to write a new song. Her great passion is figure-skating and, one day, when she sees a boy fall through the ice she hurries to his aid. The famous figure-skater Sophia Arndt sees what is happening and together they save the boy. Daniel falls in love with Sophia. Ekatarina starts training with Sophia for an upcoming gala and, on the day, enchants the audience. But then she suddenly collapses and is taken to hospital where she is diagnosed with leukaemia. Daniel and Sophia try to make Ekatarina’s last weeks as comfortable as possible. Her dying wish is to celebrate Christmas but the doctors fear she won’t live to see it. Daniel and Sophia decide that Christmas will come early. Scene from »Lady Scene from Of Kazakhstan«

Genre Feature Director Dmitiri Astrachan Dmitri Astrachan was born in 1957 in Leningrad, Screenplay B & B Westhausen, based on a story by today St. Petersburg. Aged 25 he graduated from the Art Bernd Director of Photography A. F. Rud Leningrad State Institute For Theatre, Music And Editor L. Mikulo Music by Paul Wuthe Producer Cinema having majored in playwriting. From 1982 Artur Brauner Production Companies CCC Film- until 1987 he was Director and Artistic Director of kunst, Berlin, Gran Film, Moscow Principal Cast the Sverdlovsk Youth Theatre. In 1987 he became Daniel Fehlow, , Tanja Szewczenko, head of the famous Bolshoi Theatre. Four years later Valeria Valeeva Length 91 min., 2.500 m. Format he was invited to lead the St. Petersburg Academic 35 mm, colour, 1:1,66 Original Version Comedy. In 1995 he left the theatre to concentrate German/Russian Sound Technology Dolby Stereo on film production. Among his award winning films are Get Thee Out! (1991, director, producer, writer) which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film and From Hell To Hell (1996) which was entered in the same category. His other films include You Are The Only One (1993), Everything Will Be OK (1993), Apokalypse 99 – Anatomie eines Amokläufers and Lady of Kazakhstan (2000). World Sales: please contact CCC Filmkunst GmbH · Fela Brauner Verlängerte Daumstr. 16 · D-13599 Berlin phone: +49-30-3 34 20 01 · fax: +49-30-3 34 04 18

52 Die Markus Family THE MARKUS FAMILY

The Markus Family tells the life of Markus Anatol Weisse, who, despite having an extreme visual disability, became a painter. He builds robots and wishes he could become a Bio-Robot, a Cyborg. Markus Anatol Weisse takes us into his fascinating reality where not only his world of pictures but also his bizarre humour encourage us to see the world with ”different eyes“. What would it be like to be stranded on a traffic island? To live in a village at the end of the world? To talk to mechanical creatures? To long for love? And to find a friend?! Percy Adlon Percy Markus Anatol Weisse, Eva Ebner (photo © ElfiMarkus Anatol Weisse, Mikesch)

Genre Documentary Director/Screenplay/ Elfi Mikesch, who was born in Austria in 1940, has Director of Photography Elfi Mikesch been living in Berlin since 1965. She works as a Editor Heide Breitel Music by Harald Weiss, photographer, camerawoman and director and has Markus Anatol Weisse, N’CO Françoise Arnold, Klaus worked, among others, with Rosa von Praunheim, Nomi, Paul Gutama Soegijo Producer Elke Peters and Monika Treut. Together, she Production Company Mira Filmproduktion, and Treut founded the film production company Bremen, in co-production with ZDF/3 sat, Mainz Hyäne I/II. Her films as director include: Ich denke With Markus Anatol Weisse, Drosera Eva Weisse, Leo oft an Hawaii (1978), Was soll’n wir denn Weisse, Eva Ebner, Fritz Eggert, Julia Meiler Brand machen ohne den Tod (1980), Verführung: Length 80 min., 920 m. Format 16/DV, colour, die grausame Frau (1985), Mind The Gap 1:1,37 Original Version German Subtitled (Verrückt bleiben, verliebt bleiben, 1996) Version English Sound Technology Stereo and Die Markus Family (2000). With backing from Bremer Innovations-Agentur (BIA) International Festival Screenings Berlin 2000: Panorama

World Sales: please contact Mira Filmproduktion Bremen GmbH · Elke Peters Wielandstr. 27 · D-28203 Bremen phone: +49-4 21-70 70 71 · fax: +49-4 21-70 70 76 email: [email protected]

53 Paul Is Dead

It’s 1980 in a small town somewhere in West Germany. Summer vacation has just started and the days seem long for Tobias (12), a raving Beatles-fan. He is dreaming about having a band of his own together with his older brother Till. But Till just started dating his first girl-friend and therefore has other things on his mind. One fine day a mysterious man appears in town driving a white VW beetle, apparently English, with steering wheel on the right hand side. Tobias is convinced that he has seen the licence plate on the car before. Going through his LPs he finds his suspicions confirmed: It is the beetle shown on the Abbey Road cover.

His detective instincts aroused, he discovers a strange story which happened in 1966: Paul McCartney died under mysterious circumstances and was replaced with a double by his manager, Brian Epstein. All the elements seem to match and Tobias starts to investigate the case, believing he is confronted with Paul McCartney’s killer. Sebastian Schmidtke (photoGmbH) Sebastian Schmidtke © X Filme Produktions

Genre Feature Director/Screenplay Hendrik Hendrik Handloegten was born in Germany in Handloegten Director of Photography Florian 1968 but spent his childhood in Finland, Brazil, Hoffmeister Editor Monika Smith Music by Bertram Switzerland and France. In 1985 he moved from Paris Denzel, Bernd Jestram Producers Stefan Arndt, Maria to East Berlin. In 1989 he finished his studies at the Köpf Production Company X Filme Produktions German Film and Television Academy (DFFB) in GmbH, Cologne, for ZDF, Mainz Principal Cast Berlin with his graduation film, Paul Is Dead. He Sebastian Schmidtke, Martin Reinhold, Vasko Scholz, is currently working on his second feature film, Myriam Abeillon Length 75 min., 2.052 m. Format Kirnbacher Kreuz. 35 mm, colour, 1:1,66 Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby SR International Festival Screenings Saarbrücken 2000

World Sales: please contact X Filme Produktions GmbH · Maria Köpf Bülowstr. 90 · D-10783 Berlin phone: +49-30-23 08 33 11 · fax: +49-30-23 08 33 22 email: [email protected]

54 Private Lies

When the truth becomes unbearable, people start lying – to each other and themselves. For Sarah and Bob it was love at first sight. She was a German music student and he was an American tourist. Now, years later, the picture-perfect marriage has itself become a lie – despite the white clapboard house in the New England countryside and two wonderful children. Sarah is lonely, but, in denial, she struggles desperately to keep it all together. Bob, basically a loving husband, starts to unravel. When they both begin affairs, their marriage reaches the point of no return. Out of the blue, Sarah is called to her mother’s deathbed in Munich. Bob accuses her of trying to kidnap the kids and refuses to let them go. Upon her return, airport immigration authorities inform Sarah that Bob has filed for divorce, that she either sign away custody of the kids or be deported to Germany on the next plane and face an extended battle for the right to reside in the U.S. She signs the papers, returns to an empty house and tries to rectify a situation in which everyone is suffering, the children most of all. Betty, Sarah’s loyal friend, does all she can to lower the level of hostility, help Sarah beat the odds and get a new life. Private Lies is the tender yet compelling story of a woman’s struggle to prevail over the injustice, pain, and animosity of a marriage gone wrong. Scene from »PrivateScene from Lies«

Genre Feature Director Sherry Hormann Sherry Hormann was born in New York State in 1960 Screenplay Gabriela Sperl Director of and moved to Germany with her family in 1966. She atten- Photography Ken Kelsch Editor David Gulick ded the Academy for Television & Film (HFF) in Munich, Music by Mason Daring Producer Otto graduating in 1984 with Jetzt oder nie. Her first script, Grokenberger Production Company TV-60 Tiger, Löwe, Panther (1988), received the Prize for Filmproduktion, Munich, in co-production with BR, Best Teleplay in 1988. In 1991, Hormann made her feature Munich, NDR, Hamburg, WDR, Cologne, ORF, debut with Leise Schatten, which was awarded three Vienna, SF DRS, Zurich Principal Cast Martina German Film Prizes and a Bavarian Film Prize. She followed it Gedeck, John Corbett, Vyto Ruginis, Marianne up with Women Are Simply Wonderful (Frauen sind Sägebrecht, Sarah Fischer, David Mokriski Length was Wunderbares, 1993). Her other films are: Doubting 2.800 m., 102 min. Format 35 mm, colour, Thomas (Irren ist männlich, 1995), Die Cellistin 1:1,78 Original Version English Sound (TV, 1996), Widows (Widows – erst die Ehe, dann Technology Dolby Stereo das Vergnügen, 1997) and Private Lies (2000).

World Sales: Cinepool · Wolfram Skowronnek, Annegret Rönnpag Sonnenstr. 21 · D-80331 Munich phone: +49-89-55 87 60 · fax: +49-89-55 87 61 88 email: [email protected]

55 Russlands Wunderkinder RUSSIA’S WONDER CHILDREN

Their names are Lena, Nikita, Ira and Mitya. They excel at concert performances which would shatter the nerves of even adult pianists. Their vibratos, runs and cascading arpeggios are simply breathtaking. The maturity these children display, even when performing the most difficult of piano pieces, is quite astonishing. Their amazing talent is founded, however, on hours of practice every single day and is the result of a long-standing tradition in the former Soviet Union. The roots of this tradition date back to the thirties. In the midst of Stalin’s reign of terror, musical educa- tion was elevated to the status of an important state mission. Since then, no other country has produced as many virtuoso musicians as Russia. This was also the time when the Central Music School at the Moscow Conservatory first opened its portals. Even today it remains the most sought after institutions to

attend in order to obtain a musical education. Adlon Percy Ira, Mitya, Nikita and Lena are all pupils at this school. Lena, who has been performing concerts all over the world since she was nine years old, does not even possess her own piano on which to practice. She is now seventeen and is experiencing the fate of many a child prodigy: no longer a child, she is simply not as sought after as she used to be. There are, after all, so many first class adult musicians around. Scene from »Russia’s Wonder Children« Children« Wonder »Russia’s Scene from

Genre Documentary Director/Screenplay Born in 1959 in Issikul, near Omsk, in what was Irene Langemann Director of Photo- then the Soviet Union, Irene Langemann graphy Sergej Astachov Editor Kawe Vakil majored in acting and German language and Producer Wolfgang Bergmann Production literature at Moscow’s Tcepkin Drama School Company Lichtfilm, Cologne, in co-production from 1976-1980. For the next ten years she with WDR, Cologne, arte, Strasbourg Length worked as an actress, director and playwright 98 min., 2.800 m. Format 35 mm, colour, in Moscow. In 1983 she became a presenter 1:1,37 Original Version Russian/German and director for Russian television. In 1986 she Subtitled Versions German, English became director and dramaturge at the Nasch Sound Technology Dolby SR With Theater studio theatre until she emigrated to backing from Media II, Filmstiftung NRW the Federal republic of Germany in June 1990. International Festival Screenings Berlin From then until 1997 she was commissioning 2000: Forum edtitor at Deutsche Welle TV in Cologne. Now she is freelancing filmmaker.

World Sales: Jane Balfour Films Ltd. · Mary Barlow Burghley House · 35 Fortress Road · GB-London NW5 1AD phone: +44-20-72 67 53 92 · fax: +44-20-72 67 42 41 www.Lichtfilm.de · email: [email protected]

56 The Unscarred

When four friends meet twenty years later, they discover that trust is a strong basis for deception. It's 1979 and at the Stanford University villa in Berlin a wild frat party is in full force. Mickey Vernon, a young basketball prodigy, and his best friend Travis Moore, handsome, rich and privileged, are competing in a drinking contest for the affections of their friend, Rafaella Storaro. Johann Alt is referee. When things suddenly turn ugly Mickey's sporting career is ruined. 20 years on: Mickey works in a rundown factory in Newark NJ. Saddled with serious gambling debts, he unexpectedly gets a call from Travis inviting him back to Berlin to see Johann and Rafaella, who are married and extremely successful. In Berlin they go out for a night on the town. In an East Berlin club, Travis picks up a girl and takes her to Johann's place. In the morning Mickey finds her lying in a pool of blood. Travis, horrified at what has happened, tries to explain that she accidentally fell from the balcony. He wants to call the police but Mickey bullies them into reconsidering: No one will believe that it was an accident. Reluctantly, they wrap up the body for disposal. Bitter about his life, Mickey savours the idea that he finally has one up on his successful friends. But this dangerous game of betrayal and revenge will leave no survivor unscarred. James Russo, Ornella Muti, Steven Waddington, Ornella Muti, Steven Waddington, James Russo,

Genre Feature Director Buddy Giovinazzo Buddy Giovinazzo graduated with a Masters in Screenplay Todd Komarnicki, Karl Junghans Cinema from the College of Staten Island. As writer- Director of Photography Rodger Hinrichs director his credits include low-budgeter Combat Editor Katja Dringenberg Music by Rick Giovinazzo Shock (1985, Troma) and No Way Home Producers Karen Arikian, Christopher Petzel, (1995) starring Tim Roth, James Russo and Deborah Wolfram Tichy Production Companies VIF, Unger. Strongly reviewed at film festivals it sold Potsdam, VIP, Potsdam, TiMe, Potsdam, Mercent successfully in all major territories. He has directed a Filmproduktion, London Principal Cast James Russo, number of music videos for Amar Records and has Steven Waddington, Heino Ferch, Ornella Muti produced and directed the documentary Slice of Length 92 min., 2.516 m. Format 35 mm, colour, Life, about body modification and scarification. 1:1,85 Original Version English Sound Techno- From 1985-1995 he taught directing and filmmaking logy Dolby SRD With backing from Filmboard at the School of Visual Arts and at Film/Video Arts Berlin-Brandenburg, Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA) in Manhattan, and New York’s City University. An author he penned, among others, the novel Poetry and Purgatory (1995) and the original screenplay She’s Back (1998, Carrie Fisher, Robert Joy). World Sales: Storm Entertainment Inc. · Michael Heuser 225 Santa Monica Boulevard · Suite 60 USA-Santa Monica, CA 90401 phone: +1-3 10-6 56 25 00 · fax: +1-3 10-6 56 25 10 www.stormentertainment.com · email: [email protected] 57 Vergiss Amerika FORGET AMERICA

Two boys and a girl. Coming of age in eastern Germany: flights of fancy, dreams of grandeur, shattered illusions. A defeated region that has completely lost heart and three young people on the verge of discovering theirs. Scene from »Forget America« »Forget Scene from

Genre Feature Director Vanessa Jopp Screenplay Maggie Vanessa Jopp, born in 1969, studied at the Peren Director of Photography Judith Kaufmann Editor Academy for Television & Film (HFF) in Munich from Martina Matuschewski Music by Beckmann Producers Alena 1993-1999. She directed her first short, Aquavitae, and Herbert Rimbach Production Companies Avista Film, in 1994. This was followed by Alpaliens (short, Munich, Brainpool, Cologne, Kinowelt, Munich, WDR, Cologne 1995), One Night Suicide (short, 1996) and Principal Cast Marek Harloff, Franziska Petri, Roman Knizka This Is A True Story About A Puker On Length 90 min., 2.462 m. Format 35 mm, colour, 1:1,85 The Roof (short, 1997). Jopp has also made several Original Version German Subtitled Version English music videos and has worked for the comedy show Sound Technology Dolby SR With backing from Wochenshow. Together with five other HFF students, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, she co-directed the episodic film Honolulu (1999). Kuratorium Junger Deutscher Film, Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA) Forget America (1999) is due to open in German German Distributor Filmverlag der Autoren im Arthaus cinemas during the autumn of 2000. Vanessa Jopp is Filmverleih, Munich currently working on her next feature, Hexe und Zotte.

World Sales: Cinepool · Wolfram Skowronnek, Annegret Rönnpag Sonnenstr. 21 · D-80331 Munich phone: +49-89-55 87 60 · fax: +49-89-55 87 61 88 email: [email protected]

58 Wotenick

Mecklenburg-Pommerania, in the Federal Republic of Germany. There are tens of thousands of unemployed people in the district of Demmin. Sociologists describe this place as one of the ‘disconnected’ regions of the new Länder. Many grow up here with an ingrained feeling of having been ‘socially demoted’. A private educational organisation is currently attempting to help twenty-five hand-picked young individuals to make the transition into the workplace. The organisation’s committed educators are faced with the difficult task of trying to combat the drastic sense of personal and social deficiency harboured by these young people. It is their mission to have found either a job or a training scheme for their charges after just one year. Wotenick, summer 1999. This film observes the daily routine of those involved on the course – from secondary education to woodwork to home economics. A poetic documentary about imperfect people, who have every right to be happy but who just don’t have a chance. Scene from »Wotenick« Scene from

Genre Documentary Director/Screenplay Axel Axel Kalhorn was born in 1968 in Barth. He took Kalhorn Director of Photography Volker Gerling his final school examinations in Greifswald and was Editor Elke Müller Producer Henriette Geiss posted to Stralsund as a soldier. Kalhorn later Production Company HFF ”Konrad Wolf“, Potsdam worked as a film developer at a Berlin laboratory. With 25 adolescents of the district of Demmin, He is a student at the ”Konrad Wolf“ Academy for Mecklenburg-Pommerania Length 60 min., 720 m. Film & Television in Babelsberg. His films are: Format 16 mm, colour, 1:1,37 Original Version Meister a. D. (short, 1996), Jezerskas lebt am German Subtitled Version English Sound Vogelpfad (short, 1997), Waffenbrüder (short, Technology Mono International Festival 1998) and Wotenick (1999). Screenings Berlin 2000: New German Films

World Sales: please contact Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen ”Konrad Wolf“ · Martina Liebnitz, Uta Eberhardt Karl-Marx-Str. 33/34 · D-14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg phone: +49-3 31-7 46 93 40 · fax: +49-3 31-7 46 93 49 www.hff-potsdam.de · email: [email protected]

59 Zoom – It’s Always About Getting Closer

Wanda is a call girl living in Berlin. Though she doesn’t know it, her shy neighbor Waller is constantly watching her through the viewfinder of his digi-camera. Waller uses the videotapes to blackmail her customers – and regularly slips part of the proceeds into Wanda’s mailbox. One day, Wanda and Waller meet – by chance – in the hallway. When Waller tries to probe into her life, Wanda turns him away. She has enough problems of her own. Her husband is blackmailing her, using their son as a hostage to force her to turn tricks for him. But Waller persists, and when he finds out her story, he proclaims himself to be her guardian angel. He promises her a new, better life. The first thing he does is to break her out of her life as a prostitute – against her own will. Then he takes her on one final trip: Together, they pay a visit to Wanda’s former customers, one by one, and blackmail them again. This time, however, they demand a much higher price: For the better life they have in mind, they will need a lot of money. Scenes from »Zoom« (photos © Connie Klein, Vega Film) »Zoom« (photos Scenes from © Connie Klein, Vega

Genre Feature Director Otto Alexander Jahrreiss Otto Alexander Jahrreiss was born in Mainz in Screenplay Otto Alexander Jahrreiss, Markus Hoffmann 1964. After leaving school, he first worked as a free- Director of Photography Hannes Hubach Editor lance photographer in Munich and Los Angeles. He Behruz Torbati Music by Martin Todsharow, Till Broenner was already writing scripts at this time, and in 1990 Producer Michael Schwarz Production Company presented his first screenplays Biting the Apple Vega Film, Berlin Principal Cast Florian Lukas, Oana and Menschenfresser, which was released in Solomon, Albert Kitzl, Goetz Schubert Length 95 min., 1993, followed by his second movie All About 2.600 m. Format 35 mm, colour, cs Original Version Bob (Alles Bob) in 1998. With his current film German Subtitled Version English Sound Zoom (2000), Jahrreiss is going a completely new Technology Dolby Digital SR With backing from way in postproduction. The film material will be digi- Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg German TV License tally scanned, giving him the possibility to influence the Sat.1, Berlin look of the film at the computer.

World Sales: please contact Vega Film GmbH · Michael Schwarz Heckmannufer 4 · D-10997 Berlin phone: +49-30-6 12 20 72 · fax: +49-30-6 12 20 21 www.wallerswelt-zoom.de email: [email protected] 60 WALLER WANDA FLORIAN LUKAS OANA SOLOMON

EINE VEGA FILM PRODUKTION EIN FILM VON OTTO ALEXANDER JAHRREISS

GEDREHT AUF IN ZUSAMMENARBEIT MIT UND FILMBOARD FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES

Argentina Spain Dipl. Ing. Gustav Wilhelmi Stefan Schmitz Lavalle 1928 Avalon Productions S.L. C1051ABD Buenos Aires C/ Duque de Rivas, 2-2°D phone: + fax: +54-11-49 51 19 10 E-28012 Madrid email: [email protected] phone: +34-91-3 66 43 64 fax : +34-91-3 65 93 01 email: [email protected] China & South East Asia Lukas Schwarzacher G/F, 71-B Peak Road United Kingdom Cheung Chau, Hong Kong Iris Kehr phone: +8 52-29 86 85 55 Top Floor fax: +8 52-29 86 85 58 113-117 Charing Cross Road e-fax: +1-240-255-71 60 GB-London WC2H OEA email: [email protected] phone: +44-20-74 37 20 47 fax: +44-20-74 39 29 47 email: [email protected] France Cristina Hoffman 2, Place de Séoul USA/East Coast & Canada F-75014 Paris Brigitte Hubmann phone + fax: +33-1-43 2144 75 246 West End Avenue email: [email protected] Suite 2 C New York, NY 10023, USA phone + fax: +1-2 12-7 21-19 17 Italy email: [email protected] Alessia Ratzenberger Angeli Movie Service piazza Massa Carrara, 6 USA/West Coast I-00162 Rome Corina Danckwerts phone: +39-06-86 20 44 14 / 8 61 09 15 Capture Film, Inc. fax: +39-06-8 60 74 75 2400 W. Silverlake Drive email: [email protected] Los Angeles, CA 90039, USA phone: +1-3 23-6 68-01 12 Japan fax: +1-3 23-6 68-08 53 Tomosuke Suzuki email: [email protected] Nippon Cine TV. Corporation Suite 123, Gaien House 2-2-39 Jingumae Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo. Japan phone: +81-3-34 05 09 16 fax: +81-3-34 79-08 69 email: [email protected]

There are plans to open up another representation for Eastern Europe. You can access up-to-date information on the subject at any time from the headquarters of the Export-Union in Munich, phone +49-89-39 00 95, fax +49-89-39 52 23 email: [email protected]

62 Export-Union of German Cinema Shareholders and Supporters

Verband Deutscher Spielfilmproduzenten e.V./ Association of German Feature Film Producers please contact Franz Seitz Beichstr. 8, D-80802 Munich phone: +49-89-39 11 23, fax: +49-89-33 74 32

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Neuer Deutscher Spielfilmproduzenten/ Association of New Feature Film Producers please contact Margarete Evers Agnesstr. 14, D-80798 Munich phone: +49-89-2 71 74 30, fax: +49-89-2 71 97 28

Verband Deutscher Filmexporteure e.V./ Association of German Film Exporters please contact Lothar Wedel Tegernseer Landstr. 75, D-81539 Munich phone: +49- 89-6 92 06 60, fax: +49-89-6 92 09 10 email: [email protected]

Filmförderungsanstalt Budapester Str. 41, D-10787 Berlin phone: +49-30-2 54 09 00, fax: +49-30-25 40 90 57 www.ffa.de email: [email protected]

Beauftragter der Bundesregierung für Angelegenheiten der Kultur und der Medien Referat K 36, Bundeshaus Berlin, Bundesallee 216-218 , D-10719 Berlin phone: +49-30-22 41 62 07, fax: +49-30-22 41 62 23

Filmboard Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH August-Bebel-Str. 26-53, D-14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg phone: +49-3 31-7 43 87-0, fax: +49-3 31-7 43 87-99

Filmförderung in www.filmboard.de Berlin-Brandenburg

Wir geben mehr als Geld email: [email protected]

FilmFernsehFonds Bayern GmbH Schwanthalerstr. 69, D-80336 Munich phone: +49-89-5 44 60 20, fax: +49-89-54 46 02 21 www.fff-bayern.de email: [email protected]

FilmFörderung Hamburg GmbH Friedensallee 14–16, D-22765 Hamburg phone: +49-40-3 98 37-0, fax: +49-40-3 98 37-10 www.filmfoerderung-hamburg.de email: [email protected], [email protected]

Filmstiftung NRW GmbH Kaistr. 14, D-40221 Düsseldorf phone: +49-2 11-93 05 00, fax: +49-2 11-93 05 05 www.filmstiftung.de email: [email protected]

Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg mbH Filmförderung Huberstr. 4, D-70174 Stuttgart phone: +49-7 11-1 22 28 33, fax: +49-7 11-1 22 28 34 www.mfg.de email: [email protected]

Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung GmbH Hainstr. 19, D-04109 Leipzig phone: +49-3 41-26 98 70, fax: +49-3 41-26 98 76 5 www.mdm-foerderung.de email: [email protected] Members of the German Film Exporters’ Association please contact Lothar Wedel FILM Tegernseer Landstr. 75 D-81539 Munich phone: +49-89-6 92 06 60 fax: +49-89-6 92 09 10

ARRI Media Worldsales Cine-International Filmvertrieb please contact Antonio Exacoustos jun. GmbH & Co. KG Türkenstr. 95 please contact Lilli Tyc-Holm,Susanne Groh D-80799 Munich Leopoldstr. 18 phone: +49-89-38 09 12 88 D-80802 Munich fax: +49-89-38 09 14 33 phone: +49-89-39 10 25 fax: +49-89-33 10 89 www.cine-international.de Atlas International Film GmbH email: [email protected] please contact Dieter Menz, Stefan Menz, Christl Blum Rumfordstr. 29-31 Cinepool D-80469 Munich please contact phone: +49-89-21 09 75-0 Wolfram Skowronnek,Annegret Rönnpag fax: +49-89-22 43 32 Sonnenstr. 21 www.atlasfilm.com D-80331 Munich email: [email protected] phone: +49-89-55 87 60 fax: +49-89-55 87 61 88 email: [email protected] Bavaria Film International Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH please contact Michael Weber, DWF Thorsten Schaumann Dieter Wahl Film Bavariafilmplatz 8 please contact Dieter Wahl D-82031 Geiselgasteig Sörgelstr. 15b phone: +49-89-64 99 26 86 D-81477 Munich fax: +49-89-64 99 37 20 phone: +49-89-53 27 21 www.bavaria-film-international.de fax: +49-89-53 12 97 email: [email protected] email: [email protected]

Beta Film GmbH Exportfilm Bischoff & Co. GmbH please contact Claudia Schmitt please contact Jochem Strate, Philip Evenkamp Robert-Buerkle-Str. 2 Isabellastr. 20 D-85737 Ismaning D-80798 Munich phone: +49-89-99 56 - 27 20 phone: +49-89-2 72 93 60 fax: +49-89-99 56 - 27 03 fax: +49-89-27 29 36 36 www.epsilon-mediagroup.com email: [email protected] email: [email protected]

Filmverlag der Autoren und Futura cine aktuell Filmgesellschaft mbH Film GmbH & Co.Verleih- und please contact Eugen Schaarschmidt, Ralf Faust, Vertriebsgesellschaft KG Axel Schaarschmidt please contact Johannes Wachs Werdenfelsstr. 81 Neue Schönhauser Str. 20 D-81377 Munich D-10178 Berlin phone: +49-89-7 41 34 30 phone: +49-30-3 00 69 70 fax: +49-89-74 13 43 16 fax: +49-30-30 06 97 11 email: [email protected] www.kinowelt.de email: [email protected]

64 EXPORTERS

german united distributors Road Sales GmbH Mediadistribution Programmvertrieb GmbH please contact Ulrich Felsberg,Valentina Lori please contact Silke Spahr Clausewitzstr. 4 Richartzstr. 6-8a D-10629 Berlin D-50667 Cologne phone: +49-30-8 80 48 60 phone: +49-2 21-92 06 90 fax: +49-30-88 04 86 11 fax: +49-2 21-9 20 69 69 and www.das-werk.de email: [email protected] Bavaria Media TV Vertrieb please contact Rosemarie Dermühl Roxy-Film GmbH & Co. KG Bavariafilmplatz 8 please contact Michael Waldleitner D-82031 Geiselgasteig Schützenstr. 1 phone: +49-89-64 99 36 66 D-80335 Munich fax: +49-89-64 99 22 40 phone: +49-89-55 53 41 email: [email protected] fax: +49-89-59 45 10 email: [email protected]

Kinowelt International GmbH please contact Alexander van Dülmen RRS Entertainment Neue Schönhauser Str. 20 Gesellschaft für Filmlizenzen GmbH D-10178 Berlin please contact Robert Rajber phone: +49-30-3 00 69 70 Sternwartstr. 2 fax: +49-30-30 06 97 11 D-81679 Munich www.kinowelt.de phone: +49-89-2 11 16 60 email: [email protected] fax: +49-89-21 11 66 11 email: [email protected]

Media Luna please contact Ida Martins Transit Film GmbH Alter Markt 36-42 please contact Loy Arnold D-50667 Cologne Dachauer Str. 35 phone: +49-2 21-1 39 22 22 D-80335 Munich fax: +49-2 21-1 39 22 24 phone: +49-89-59 98 85-0 email: [email protected] fax: +49-89-59 98 85-20 email: [email protected]

Metropolis Filmvertriebs GmbH please contact Luciano Gloor Uni Media International GmbH & Co. Mediahaus Produktions- und Vertriebs KG Lützowufer 12 please contact Irene Vogt, Dieter Nobbe D-10785 Berlin Bayerstr. 15 phone: +49-30-26 48 03 60 D-80335 Munich fax: +49-30-26 48 03 61 phone: +49-89-59 58 46 email: [email protected] fax: +49-89-5 50 17 01 email: [email protected]

Progress Film-Verleih GmbH please contact Christel Jansen Burgstr. 27 D-10178 Berlin phone: +49-30-24 00 32 25 fax: +49-30-24 00 32 22 www.progress-film.de email: [email protected]

65 Kino imprint

published by:

Export-Union des Deutschen Films GmbH Türkenstr. 93 D-80799 Munich phone: +49-89-39 00 95 fax: +49-89-39 52 23 www.german-cinema.de/ email: [email protected]

ISSN 0948-2547

Credits are not contractual for any of the films mentioned in this publication.

© Export-Union des Deutschen Films

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission.

Editors Susanne Reinker, Julia Basler

Production Reports Simon Kingsley

Contributors for this issue Ed Meza, H. G. Pflaum, Laurence A. Rickels, Susanne Weingarten

Translations Simon Kingsley, Lucinda Rennison

Design Group Werner Schauer Agentur für Design und Kommunikation

Art Direction Werner Schauer

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Financed by the office of the Federal State Minister for Culture and Affairs of the Media.

Printed on ecological, unchlorinated paper.

Next Issue • Focus Location: Germany

• German Films at the • International Summer Festivals

66

Vadim Glowna hannelore elsner Jasmin tabatabai

BAVARIA FILM INTERNATIONAL proudly presents NO PLACE TO GO at Cannes 2000

For further information: Stand L9, Tel.: +33 (0) 4.92998850 no place to go

a film by oskar roehler

BAVARIA FILM INTERNATIONAL PRESENTS A DISTANT DREAMS PRODUKTION »NO PLACE TO GO« WITH HANNELORE ELSNER VADIM GLOWNA JASMIN TABATABAI MICHAEL GWISDEK LARS RUDOLPH NINA PETRI TONIO ARANGO CHARLES REGNIER WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY OSKAR ROEHLER DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY HAGEN BOGDANSKI BVK PRODUCTION DESIGN BIRGIT KNIEP COSTUME DESIGN TABEA BRAUN MAKE UP ARTIST JULIA THAM SOUND MANFRED BANACH EDITOR ISABEL MEIER MUSIC MARTIN TODSHAROW PRODUCTION MANAGER MARTIN SCHLÜTER PRODUCERS KÄTE EHRMANN AND ULRICH CASPAR A DISTANT DREAMS PRODUKTION IN COOPERATION WITH ZDF AND GEYER WERKE BERLIN SUPPORTED BY FILMBOARD BERLIN-BRANDENBURG AND FILMFERNSEHFONDS BAYERN