XVII:14) Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck the LIVES of OTHERS (DAS LEBEN DER ANDEREN) 2006, 137 Min.)
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November 25, 2008 (XVII:14) Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck THE LIVES OF OTHERS (DAS LEBEN DER ANDEREN) 2006, 137 min.) Directed and written by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck Produced by Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann Original Music by Stéphane Moucha and Gabriel Yared Cinematography by Hagen Bogdanski Film Editing by Patricia Rommel Martina Gedeck...Christa-Maria Sieland Ulrich Mühe...Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler Sebastian Koch...Georg Dreyman Ulrich Tukur..Oberstleutnant Anton Grubitz Thomas Thieme...Minister Bruno Hempf Hans-Uwe Bauer...Paul Hauser Volkmar Kleinert...Albert Jerska Matthias Brenner...Karl Wallner Academy Awards, USA 2007 Oscar Best Foreign Language Film of the Year FLORIAN HENCKEL VON DONNERSMARCK: (2 May 1973, Cologne, Germany) has directed five films: Das Leben der SEBASTIAN KOCH (31 May 1962, Karlsruhe, Germany) has Anderen (2006), Der Templer (2002, 23 min.), Dobermann (1999, appeared in 77 films and tv series, among them, The Interrogation 4 min.), Das Datum (1998, short) and Mitternacht (1997, short). of Harry Wind (2009, post-production), Effi (2009, in post- production), In jeder Sekunde (2008), Zwartboek/Black Book MARTINA GEDECK (14 September 1961, Munich, Bavaria, (2006), Das Leben der Anderen/The Lives of Others (2006), Germany) has been in nearly a hundred films and tv series (mostly Remember (2004), Amen. (2002), Der Tunnel (2001), Gloomy the latter), some of which are Clara (2008), Der Baader Meinhof Sunday - Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod/The Piano Player (1999), Komplex (2008), The Good Shepherd (2006), Sommer '04 (2006), Cosima's Lexikon (1992), and Transit (1991). Des Leben der Anderen/The Lives of Others (2006), Elementarteilchen/Elementary Particles (2006), Sergeant Pepper ULRICH TUKUR (29 July 1957, Viernheim, Germany) has (2004), Bella Martha/Mostly Martha (2001), Grüne Wüste/The appeared in 75 films and tv series, among them, Das Weiße Band Green Desert (1999), How I Got Rhythm (1995), Der Bewegte (2009, post-production), Eden Is West (2009, post-production), Mann/Maybe, Maybe Not (1994), Barmherzige Schwestern Within the Whirlwind (2009, post-production), John Rabe (2009, (1993), Hausmänner (1991), Hard Days, Hard Nights (1989), and post-production), Der Große Kater (2009, post-production), Das In der Kälte der Sonne (1986). Vaterspiel (2008, post-production), Séraphine (2008), Nordwand/North Face (2008), 42plus (2007), Der Leben der ULRICH MÜHE (20 June 1953, Grimma, German Democratic Anderen/The Lives of Others (2006), Le Couperet/The Axe (2005), Republic [now Saxony, Federal Republic of Germany]—22 July Solaris (2002), Amen. (2002), Taking Sides (2001), Heimkehr der 2007, Walbeck, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, stomach cancer) Jäger/Hunters in the Snow (2000), Apokalypse 99 - Anatomie appeared in 62 films and tv series, among them "Der Letzte eines Amokläufers (2000) Den Demokratiske terroristen/The Zeuger" (73 episodes, 1998-2007), Verwehte (2007), Das Leben Democratic Terrorist (1992), Lulu (1991, TV), Felix (1988), and der Anderen/The Lives of Others (2006), Schneeland/Snowland Die Weiße Rose/The White Rose (1982). (2005), Hamlet_X (2003), Goebbels und Geduldig (2001), Straight Shooter (1999), Sieben Monde/Nighttime (1998), Schtonk! (1992), and Hard Days, Hard Nights (1989). Donnersmark—THE LIVES OF OTHERS—2 GABRIEL YARED (7 October 1949, Beirut, Lebanon) has As he sat listening to a Beethoven piano sonata, von composed scores for 93 films and tv programs. He was nominated Donnersmarck was reminded of a conversation Vladimir Lenin for Best Music, Original Score Oscars for The Talented Mr. had with Maxim Gorky about Beethoven’s “Appassionata.” Lenin Ripley and Cold Mountain, and won for The English Patient told the author that he could not listen to the opera because it (1996). Some of the other films he scored are Shanghai (2009, made him want to pet people’s heads and say nice things instead post-production), Adam Resurrected (2008), 1408 (2007), of smashing them to get his revolution. For von Donnersmarck, Manolete (2007), Breaking and Entering (2006), Das Leben der the idea for “The Lives of Others” was born. He spent an hour and Anderen/The Lives of Others (2006), Underexposure (2005), Shall a half developing the basic outline of a story about a Stasi officer We Dance (2004), Sylvia (2003), The One and Only (2002), listening to the lives of two artists considered traitors to the Possession (2002), Not Afraid, Not Afraid (2001), Autumn in New Communist cause, then shelved it for a few years while he York (2000), Message in a Bottle (1999), City of Angels (1998), continued with film school and made several shorts – including a Hercule et Sherlock (1996), Wings of Courage (1995), Profil four-minute exercise on cinematic style called “Dobermann.” bas/Low Profile (1993), Map of the Human Heart (1993) Instead of finishing school, however, von Donnersmarck left L’Amant/The Lover (1992), Vincent & Theo (1990), Romero during his last year so he could begin researching the life and (1989), Clean and Sober (1988), La Prisonnière/The Prisoner times of East Germany during the Stasi’s long stranglehold. (1988), Beyond Therapy (1987), Adieu Bonaparte (1985), Tir à After a year and half, some of which was spent talking to vue/Fire on Sight (1984), Hanna K. (1983), Invitation au voyage both victims and the intelligence officers who tormented them, (1982), and Sauve qui peut (la vie)/Every Man for Himself (1980). von Donnersmarck visited his uncle, an abbot at a 12 century Cistercian monastery, and spent a month writing the script. With a Florian Henckel von Donnersmark (from Yahoo! Movies): completed draft in hand, von Donnersmarck began to woo Germany’s top acting talent, including Ulrich Muhe, an East Standing at an imposing 6’8”, German-born German stage actor who was a prime target of the director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck Stasi. Muhe put von Donnersmarck through the loomed over the 2007 Academy Awards when wringer, interviewing the inexperienced director he won the Best Foreign Film Oscar for his twice to make sure that he was up for the job. The feature debut, “The Lives of Others” (2006), a director passed easily and began shooting the film stark and frightening thriller set in the world of on a $2 million budget, with Muhe portraying an the infamous Stasi, East Germany’s brutal expert interrogator and surveillance officer intelligence agency, during the height of the monitoring the apartment of a playwright Cold War. (Sebastian Koch) and his actress lover (Martina Though born in Cologne, West Gedeck), both of whom are under suspicion for Germany in 1973, von Donnersmarck subversive activities. Over time, the Stasi officer journeyed often to the East to visit relatives becomes immersed in their lives, enamored by who lived in constant fear of being spied on their love for art, literature and each other, forcing and interrogated by Stasi officers. Even his him to confront – and ultimately reject – his stolid parents failed to escape their reach – both were life of ideology. on a list of suspected traitors to the Communist The film was released in Germany in cause, and his mother was taken away for March 2006, before making the international several hours, strip-searched and humiliated festival rounds, including the Cannes Film when von Donnersmarck was 8-years old. His Festival, where Sony Pictures Classics landed the father, a Lufthansa Airlines employee, later rights for North American distribution. moved the family to New York City, where Meanwhile, “The Lives of Others” began raking in von Donnersmarck spent a majority of his the awards – the film earned numerous festival and childhood and learned to speak excellent critics awards, as well as a record seven German English. The rest of his youth was divided between Berlin, Film Awards, including for Best Film, Best Director and Best Frankfurt and Brussels. Screenplay. After winning three European Film Awards – After learning to speak Russian in St. Petersburg when including the top prize for Best European Film – “The Lives of he was 18, Von Donnersmarck journeyed to England to attend Others” was recognized in the United States by the Hollywood Oxford University, spending five years studying philosophy, Foreign Press with a 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign politics and economics with the intention of becoming a novelist. Language Film. Following a win in the Best Foreign Film In his last year, Sir Richard Attenborough was at the school, category at the Independent Spirit Awards, von Donnersmarck holding a rotating arts professorship. An essay contest was held took home the Big One at the 79th Annual Academy Awards, and von Donnersmarck won. Chosen by the acclaimed actor- winning the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film – much to the director to be a production intern on his film “In Love and War” surprise of many filmgoers, who believe “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006) (1996), a biography about Ernest Hemingway’s experiences as an had it locked. ambulance driver during World War I, von Donnersmarck began attending Munich Film School where he was forced by his From John O. Koehler, Stasi: The Untold Story of the East professor to develop 14 original film treatments in the first eight German Secret Police (Westview): weeks. Von Donnersmarck hit a wall with treatment number 12, throwing him into a chasm of self-doubt over his life’s course. Less than a month after German demonstrators began to tear down the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, irate East German citizens Donnersmark—THE LIVES OF OTHERS—3 stormed the Leipzig district office of the Ministry for State never be determined; but 500,000 was cited as a realistic figure. Security (MfS)—the Stasi, as it was more commonly called. Not a Former Colonel Rainer Wiegand, who served in the Stasi shot was fired, and there was no evidence of "street justice" as counterintelligence directorate, estimated that the figure could go Stasi officers surrendered meekly and were peacefully led away.