in Toronto 2010 - german films

GERMAN FILMS
in Toronto 2010

Special Presentations
POLL
THE WHISTLEBLOWER
Contemporary World Cinema
DREI
GLÜCKLICHE FÜGUNG
THE HUNTER
LIFE, ABOVE ALL
THE LIGHT THIEF
MY JOY
WOMB
IM ALTER VON ELLEN
L.A. ZOMBIE
5
7
9
11
13
15
17
19
21
Vanguard
23
25
Wavelengths
BLOW-UPS: PORTRAIT, TEETRINKEN, ROTER VORHANG
RUHR
Further German-International Participants at TIFF 2010
European Film Promotion’s PRODUCERS lab Toronto
German World Sales Companies at TIFF 2010
Imprint
27
29
30
33
34
35
3 •••

photo © Kordes & Kordes Film Produktion

THE POLL DIARIES
Screenings
Public:
16 Sept. 18:00 Visa Screening Room (Elgin)
17 Sept. 11:15 Varsity 8
19 Sept. 09:00 Bell Lightbox 1
Press & Industry:
10 Sept. 11:30 Scotiabank 8
15 Sept. 17:30 NFB
Special Presentations
POLL
On the eve of World War I, a 14-year-old German girl returns to her home on the Baltic coast, a place
uneasily shared by Germans, Russians and Estonians. While her morbid scientist father controls the family
with a cruel hand, the passionate young girl secretly nurses a wounded Estonian anarchist back to health –
at first an act of curiosity and then of defiance that could set off an uncontrollable chain reaction...
The Poll Diaries hauntingly evokes the atmosphere of a doomed society at the crossroads of the German and
Russian Empires in the early years of the 20th century.
Genre Drama, History Year of Production 2010 Director Chris Kraus Screenplay Chris Kraus Director
of Photography Daniela Knapp Producers Alexandra Kordes, Meike Kordes Co-Producers Danny Krausz,
Kurt Stocker, Riina Sildos, Chris Kraus Production Company Kordes & Kordes Film/Berlin, in co-production
with Dor Film/Vienna, Amrion/Tallinn, SWR/Baden-Baden, BR/Munich, ARTE/Strasbourg, Degeto
Film/Frankfurt, ORF/Vienna Principal Cast Paula Beer, Edgar Selge, Tambet Tuisk, Jeanette Hain,
Richy Müller, Enno Trebs, Erwin Steinhauer, Gudrun Ritter Length 129 min Format 35 mm, color, cs
Original Version German/Russian/Estonian/French Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby Digital
Festivals Toronto 2010 World Sales Bavaria Film International · Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH · Thorsten Ritter
Bavariafilmplatz 7 · 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany · phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20
email toronto10@bfint.de · www.bavaria-film-international.com
Already a noted scriptwriter before making his debut as a director, Chris Kraus scored a notable success
with his first feature, Shattered Glass (2002), which was awarded two Bavarian Film Prizes, among other
awards. His second film, Four Minutes (2006), was one of the most successful German films of the past years
and won over 50 German and international awards. Kraus is also a distinguished opera director (Premio
Abbiati for his Fidelio in Reggio Emilia). In The Poll Diaries, Kraus continues his tradition of introducing sensational
young talents to the movie-going public: after Hannah Herzsprung in Four Minutes, it is now the turn
of Paula Beer.
5 •••

photo © Andrei Alexandru

THE WHISTLEBLOWER
Kathy Bolkovac is a Nebraskan police officer and mother who, in 1999, goes out on a limb to work for the
United Nations as a monitor in post-war Bosnia. But her expectations of helping rebuild a devastated
country are dashed when she unveils a reality involving international complicity in sex trafficking, corruption,
and cover-up. Kathy is a fish-out-of-water in the confusing world of UN contingents, private contractors, and
diplomatic doubletalk, but now she must choose whether to turn against the institution she so passionately
believed in, and risk all to protect the innocent. Based on a true story.
Genre Political Thriller Year of Production 2010 Director Larysa Kondracki Screenplay Larysa Kondracki
Director of Photography Keiran McGuigan Producers Christina Piovesan, Benito Mueller, Wolfgang Mueller,
Celine Rattray, Amy Kaufmann Production Companies First Generation Films/Toronto, Barry Films/Berlin
Principal Cast Rachel Weisz, Vanessa Redgrave, David Strathairn, Nicolaj Lie Kaas, Monica Bellucci Length
95 min Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version English Sound Technology Dolby Festivals Toronto 2010
World Sales Voltage Pictures · 6360 Deep Dell Place · Los Angeles, CA 90068/USA · phone +1-323-464 8351
fax +1-323-464 8362 · email sales@voltagepictures.com · www.voltagepictures.com
Larysa Kondracki is a Canadian-born Ukrainian and studied Directing at Columbia University. She also
directed the evocative short Viko and completed with her writing partner Eilis Kirwan the screenplay
for Burning Rainbow Farm and is currently adapting the graphic novel Supermarket for director Justin Lin.
For The Whistleblower she spent two years researching the topic of sex-trafficking.
Screenings
Public:
13 Sept. 14:30 Visa Screening Room (Elgin)
17 Sept. 18:00 Bell Lightbox 1
Press & Industry:
14 Sept. 11:30 Scotiabank 1
16 Sept. 16:30 Scotiabank 4
Special Presentations
7 •••

photo © X Verleih AG

THREE
Berlin, today. The very urban couple Hanna and Simon have lived together for years. Love, work, sex and daily
life have meshed into combative harmony.
Then Hanna meets Adam. And Adam meets Simon. Unexpectedly, all three fall in love.
Contemporary World Cinema
DREI
Everyone remains oblivious to the other's affair. But the secret slowly begins to confuse all three lovers, and
it threatens to rupture their fragile relationship.
Three is an investigation into the emotional life of a generation that is trying to reconcile new possibilities and
old longings.
Genre Drama Year of Production 2010 Director Tom Tykwer Screenplay Tom Tykwer Director of Photography
Frank Griebe Producer Stefan Arndt Production Company X Filme Creative Pool/Berlin Principal Cast Sophie
Rois, Sebastian Schipper, Devid Striesow Length 119 min Format 35 mm, color, cs Original Version German
Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby SRD Festivals Venice 2010 (In Competition), Toronto 2010
World Sales The Match Factory GmbH · Michael Weber · Balthasarstrasse 79-81 · phone +49-2 21-5 39 70 90
fax +49-2 21-53 97 09 10 · email info@matchfactory.de · www.the-match-factory.com
Born in Wuppertal in 1965, Tom Tykwer soon became interested in film. He worked as a projectionist and
booker in various independent arthouse cinemas for several years before he helmed his first feature film
Deadly Maria in 1993, followed by Winter Sleepers (1997), Run Lola Run (1998), The Princess and the Warrior
(2000), Heaven (2002), and Perfume – The Story of a Murderer (2006). In 2009, The International opened the
Berlin International Film Festival. His recent film Three, featuring Sophie Rois, Sebastian Schipper and Devid
Striesow, will be released in German cinemas in December 2010.
Screenings
Public:
16 Sept. 18:00 Ryerson
17 Sept. 19:45 Varsity 8
19 Sept. 15:15 Scotiabank 1
Press & Industry:
13 Sept. 17:15 Scotiabank 3
15 Sept. 13:30 Scotiabank 3
9 •••

photo © Jörg Gönner/moneypenny

BLESSED EVENTS
Contemporary World Cinema
GLÜCKLICHE
FÜGUNG
37-year-old Simone decides to go out alone on New Year’s Eve. The next morning, she wakes up next to
a stranger in his car, and a few weeks later she discovers that she’s pregnant. By coincidence, she runs into
the stranger again – the handsome Hannes – and is surprised to find that contrary to her expectations,
he’s actually happy about the pregnancy and wants to live with her. Could this be the face of happiness?
While Hannes works in a hospital as a nurse in palliative care, tending to the dying with extraordinary
tenderness, Simone renovates their shared, little home. An attractive neighbor fuels Simone’s jealousy. The
larger Simone’s belly grows, the more extensively Hannes’ integrity warms the nest, the more oppressive their
little, homemade prison appears.
Genre Drama Year of Production 2010 Director Isabelle Stever Screenplay Anke Stelling, Isabelle Stever
Director of Photography Bernhard Keller Producers Sigrid Hoerner, Anne Leppin Production Company
moneypenny filmproduktion/Berlin Principal Cast Annika Kuhl, Stefan Rudolf Length 91 min Format
35 mm, color, cs Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby Digital
Festivals Toronto 2010 World Sales Media Luna New Films UG · Ida Martins · Aachener Strasse 24 · 50674
Cologne/Germany · phone +49-221-51 09 18 91 · fax +49-221-51 09 18 99 · email idamartins@medialuna.biz
www.medialuna.biz
Isabelle Stever was born in 1963 in Munich. After studying Mathematics in Berlin and New York,
she studied Directing at the German Academy of Film & Television (dffb) in Berlin. Her films include: the
award-winning features Portrait of a Married Couple (2002), Gisela (2005), and Blessed Events (2010). She
also contributed an episode to the omnibus film Germany ’09 (2009).
Screenings
Public:
14 Sept. 21:45 Scotiabank 3
15 Sept. 14:45 AMC 3
19 Sept. 20:30 Scotiabank 11
Press & Industry:
11 Sept. 21:15 Scotiabank 11
16 Sept. 16:45 Scotiabank 11
11 •••

photo © Maryam Takhtkeshian / Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion GmbH

Contemporary World Cinema
THE HUNTER
Recently released from prison, Ali makes the most of his return, amidst much talk of the upcoming elections
and promises of change. Despite working nights, he tries to spend the most time possible with his beautiful
wife and young daughter. To escape the stress of urban living, Ali retreats to his favorite pastime of hunting in
the secluded forest north of town. Tragedy strikes and Ali's wife Sara is accidentally killed in a police shootout
with demonstrators. After a long and frustrating experience at the police station, Ali's own search for his
missing six-year-old daughter ends in horror and pushes him over the edge. In broad daylight, overlooking
the busy city's surrounding highways, Ali randomly shoots and kills two policemen. After a high-speed car
chase outside of town, Ali flees into the northern forest where he is captured by two police officers. Ali is
resigned to his fate and watches quietly as the arguing policemen lose their way in the woods. Situations
complicate and the line between hunter and hunted becomes difficult to define...
Genre Drama Year of Production 2009 Director Rafi Pitts Screenplay Rafi Pitts Director of Photography
Mohammad Davudikhaki Producers Thanassis Karathanos, Mohammad Reza Takhteshian Production
Companies Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion/Berlin, Aftab Negaran/Tehran, in co-production with
ZDF/Mainz, ARTE/Strasbourg Principal Cast Rafi Pitts, Mitra Hajjar, Ali Nicksaulat, Hassan Ghaleoni,
Manoocher Rahimi Length 92 min Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version Farsi Subtitled Version
English Sound Technology Dolby Digital SR-D Festivals Berlin 2010 (In Competition), Edinburgh 2010,
Melbourne 2010, Toronto 2010 World Sales The Match Factory GmbH · Michael Weber · Balthasarstrasse
79-81 · 50670 Cologne/Germany · phone +49-2 21-5 39 70 90 · fax +49-2 21-5 39 70 910 · email
info@matchfactory.de · www.the-match-factory.com
Rafi Pitts was born in 1967 in Iran. In 1981, he fled the country and moved to Britain. He graduated in 1991
from Harrow College – Polytechnic of Central London with a degree in Film and Photography. His first short,
In Exile (1991), was presented the same year at the London IFF. His feature, Season Five (1997), was the first
Franco-Iranian co-production since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, and premiered in Venice. Sanam (2000)
was hailed by the French critics as “the Iranian 400 Blows”. His film It’s Winter (2006) premiered in Berlin.
Screenings
Public:
12 Sept. 18:45 AMC 7
16 Sept. 18:15 AMC 7
19 Sept. 09:30 Bell Lightbox 2
Press & Industry:
9 Sept. 14:30 Scotiabank 9
13 •••

photo © Dreamer Joint Venture GmbH/Alsbrik, 2010

Contemporary World Cinema
LIFE, ABOVE ALL
12-year-old Chanda is a promising young student, growing up in a small farming town in South Africa. When
her baby sister suddenly dies, the neighbors become increasingly distant. Chanda's search for answers is met
with stubborn silence. In the face of resistance and hostility, Chanda sets out to confront a deeply engrained,
unspoken taboo.
Life, Above All is an emotional and universal drama about a young girl (stunningly performed by first-timeactress
Khomotso Manyaka) who fights the fear and shame that have poisoned her community. The film captures
the enduring strength of loyalty and a courage powered by the heart.
Genre Drama Year of Production 2010 Director Oliver Schmitz Screenplay Dennis Foon Director of
Photography Bernhard Jasper Producer Oliver Stoltz Co-Producers Greig Buckle, Thomas Reisser,
Dan Schlanger Production Company Dreamer Joint Venture Filmproduktion/Berlin, in co-production with
Senator Film Produktion/Berlin, Enigma Pictures/Cape Town, Niama Film/Stuttgart Principal Cast Khomotso
Manyaka, Lerato Mvelase, Harriet Manamela, Keaobaka Makanyane, Tinah Mnumzana Length 105 min
Format 35 mm, color, cs Original Version Sepedi Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby Digital
Festivals Cannes 2010, Giffoni 2010, Durban 2010, Toronto 2010 Awards Prix François Chalais Cannes 2010,
Best South African Feature Durban 2010 World Sales Bavaria Film International · Dept. of Bavaria Media
GmbH · Thorsten Ritter · Bavariafilmplatz 7 · 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany · phone +49-89-64 99 26 86
fax +49-89-64 99 37 20 · email toronto10@bfint.de · www.bavaria-film-international.com
Oliver Schmitz was born in 1960 in South Africa and studied Fine Arts in Cape Town. Active both in
writing and directing, he has repeatedly treated themes from his native country. Among his award-winning
films are Mapantsula, Jo’Burg Stories (documentary), and Hijack Stories. He was invited to shoot a segment
of the episodic film Paris, je t'aime. His recent projects include the award-winning comedy series Türkisch
für Anfänger (TV) and Doctor’s Diary (TV).
Screenings
Public:
12 Sept. 15:00 Varsity 8
14 Sept. 18:15 AMC 5
Press & Industry:
10 Sept. 21:15 Scotiabank 11
15 •••

photo © Pallas Film/Artur Bolzhurov

Contemporary World Cinema
THE LIGHT THIEF
They call him “Svet-ake” (“Mr. Light”). The electrician is responsible for bringing more than just light to the
people around him. Like moths, everybody is drawn to his kindness: those with short circuits in their
electricity, and those with short circuits in their marriage, those who have taken all the power in the city, and
those who have given up the will to live. He helps everyone and is everywhere. He doesn’t even shy from
breaking the law, rewinding an old and lonely pensioner’s electricity meter so that he doesn’t owe the State,
but rather the State owes him. The economic devastation of the country has had an enormous impact on the
working people and yet despite the upheaval they have not lost the ability to love, to suffer, to share their lives
with friends, and enjoy what they have… in particular our resilient electrician who possesses a wonderful and
open heart. He not only brings electric light (which is often out) to the lives of the inhabitants of this village,
but he also spreads the light of love, loyalty, life, and most of all, lots of laughter.
Genre Drama Year of Production 2010 Director Aktan Arym Kubat Screenplay Aktan Arym Kubat,
Talip Ibraimov Director of Photography Hassan Kydyraliyev Producers Altynai Koichumanova, Cedomir Kolar,
Thanassis Karathanos, Marc Baschet, Karl Baumgartner, Denis Vaslin Production Companies Pallas Film/
Halle, Oy Art/Beshkek, A.S.A.P. Films/Paris, Volya Films/Rotterdam, in co-production with ZDF/Mainz, ARTE/
Strasbourg Principal Cast Aktan Arym Kubat, Taalaikan Abazova, Askat Sulaimanov, Asan Amanov, Stanbek
Toichubaev Length 80 min Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version Kyrgyz Subtitled Version English
Sound Technology Dolby Digital Festivals Cannes 2010, Locarno 2010, Toronto 2010 World Sales The Match
Factory GmbH · Michael Weber · Balthasarstrasse 79-81 · 50670 Cologne/Germany · phone +49-2 21-5 39 70 90
fax +49-2 21-5 39 70 910 · email info@matchfactory.de · www.the-match-factory.com
Aktan Arym Kubat was born in 1957 in Kyrgyzstan and started working as a production designer in
the 1980s. He wrote his first screenplay in 1995 and began directing in 1990. His films include: Where's
Your Home, Snail? (1992), Bus Stop (short, 1995), Hassan Hussen (short, 1997), The Adopted Son (1998),
The Chimp (2001), The Mother's Heaven (2010), and The Light Thief (2010).
Screenings
Public:
10 Sept. 18:00 AMC 4
11 Sept. 09:30 AMC 3
Press & Industry:
9 Sept. 09:30 NFB
17 •••

photo © ma.ja.de fiction

Contemporary World Cinema
MY JOY
My Joy is a tale of a truck driver Georgy. He leaves his home town with a load of goods, but he is forced to take
a wrong turn on the motorway, and finds himself in the middle of nowhere. Georgy tries to find his way,
but gradually, against his will, he becomes drawn into the daily life of a Russian village. In a place where
brutal force and survival instincts overcome humanity and common sense, the truck driver’s story heads for
a dead end...
Genre Drama Year of Production 2010 Director Sergei Loznitsa Screenplay Sergei Loznitsa Director of
Photography Oleg Mutu Producers Heino Deckert, Oleg Kokhan Co-Producers Leontine Petit, Marleen Slot,
Joost de Vries Production Company ma.ja.de fiction/Leipzig, in co-production with SOTA Cinema Group/Kiev,
Lemming Film/Amsterdam Principal Cast Viktor Nemets, Alisa Slepyan, Vladimir Golovin, Olga Shuvalova,
Maria Varsami, Boris Kamorzin, Vlad Ivanov, Pavel Vorozhtsov, Dmitriy Bykovskiy Length 127 min Format 35
mm, color, cs Original Version Russian Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby Digital Festivals
Cannes 2010 (In Competition), Karlovy Vary 2010, Kinotavr Open Sochi 2010, Sarajevo 2010, Toronto 2010
Awards Best Direction & Russian Film Scholars & Critics' “White Elephant” Award Sochi 2010
World Sales Fortissimo Film Sales · Van Diemenstraat 100 · 1013 CN Amsterdam/The Netherlands · phone
+31-20-6 27 32 15 · fax +31-20-6 26 11 55 · email info@fortissimo.nl · www.fortissimo.nl
Sergei Loznitsa was born in 1964 in Baranovichi in the former USSR. He grew up in Kiev, and in 1987
graduated from the Kiev Polytechnic with a degree in Applied Mathematics. From 1987-1991, he was
employed at the Kiev Institute of Cybernetics, working on artificial intelligence research. He also worked
as a translator for Japanese. In 1997 Sergei Loznitsa graduated from the Russian State Institute of
Cinematography (VGIK). He studied feature film making in the class of Nana Dzhordzhadze. From 2000 - 2008
he worked at the St. Petersburg Documentary Film Studio. In 2001, he and his family moved to Germany.
A selection of his award-winning films includes: the documentaries Today We Are Going to Build a House
(1996), Life, Autumn (1998), The Train Stop (2000), Settlement (2001), Portrait (2002), Landscape (2003),
Factory (2004), Blockade (2005), Artel (2006), Revue (2008), and the feature My Joy (2010).
Screenings
Public:
11 Sept. 18:15 Varsity 7
13 Sept. 14:15 AMC 4
19 Sept. 20:00 Jackman Hall – AGO
Press & Industry:
9 Sept. 12:00 NFB
19 •••

photo © Wolfgang Borrs

Contemporary World Cinema
WOMB
When Rebecca returns to her grandfather’s house, she meets her childhood sweetheart Thomas again.
Thomas leaves his girlfriend Rose and their love picks up where it left off, until Thomas dies in a car accident.
Devastated, the young woman contemplates suicide until she finds consolation in the idea of cloning.
Although society does not fully accept it yet, she plans to give birth to Thomas, bringing her lost love to
life (again). Living in Rebecca’s grandfather’s remote old house, Thomas grows up believing his father died in
an accident. Rebecca never mentions cloning. In spite of their secret, Rebecca and Thomas lead an almost
normal life until Rose finds out about them...
Genre Drama Year of Production 2010 Director Benedek Fliegauf Screenplay Benedek Fliegauf Director
of Photography Peter Szatmári Producers Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul, Andràs Muhi Production
Companies Razor Film Produktion/Berlin, Inforg Stúdió/Budapest, in co-production with A.S.A.P. Films/Paris,
Boje Buck Produktion/Berlin, ARTE France Cinéma/Paris, ZDF/Mainz Principal Cast Eva Green, Matt Smith,
Peter Wight, István Lénárt, Hannah Murray Length 107 min Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version
English Sound Technology Dolby Digital Festivals Locarno 2010 (International Competition), Toronto
2010 Awards “Environment is Quality of Life” Prize Locarno 2010 World Sales The Match Factory GmbH
Michael Weber · Balthasarstrasse 79-81 · 50670 Cologne/Germany · phone +49-2 21-5 39 70 90
fax +49-2 21-5 39 70 910 · email info@matchfactory.de · www.the-match-factory.com
Born in 1974 in Budapest, Benedek Fliegauf never attended film school. He worked as an assistant
director for television and continued on the path toward directing, screenwriting, set design and sound
engineering. Womb is his fourth feature film. With his three previous features, he became one of Hungary's
most internationally-recognized young directors. His 2007 feature Milky Way won Locarno's Golden Leopard
for Filmmakers of the Present and Barcelona (L'Alternativa) Independent Film Festival's Feature Film Prize.
Dealer won the Berliner Zeitung Audience Award at the 2004 Berlin Film Festival, as well as several Best
Director prizes (Mar Del Plata, Wiesbaden, Lecce). His debut feature Forest won the Wolfgang Staudte Prize
and the Gene Moskowitz Critics Prize at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival.
Screenings
Public:
14 Sept. 19:00 Scotiabank 3
15 Sept. 18:00 AMC 6
18 Sept. 09:45 Scotiabank 2
Press & Industry:
13 Sept. 09:30 Scotiabank 13
16 Sept. 12:30 Scotiabank 8
21 •••

photo © Pandora Film Produktion

AT ELLEN’S AGE
Vanguard
IM ALTER VON ELLEN
Ellen must face some new turns in life. Although her job as a flight attendant keeps her rotating around the
globe, she finds her private life has become a placebo, lending the sensation of security she needs so badly.
She even suffers a panic attack whilst on duty, causing her to disembark and abandon an airplane that is
preparing to start. As she crosses the airfield, she knows instinctively that she is leaving her old life behind.
Driven by a sense of alienation, Ellen seeks a place to belong and in doing so, becomes a tourist in the lives
of the people and groups she encounters. Ellen becomes acquainted with a group of young activists. Amongst
them is Karl. The two are instantly drawn to one another. They set out on a crusade to destroy the industry
of animal torture and liberate as many of its victims as they can. Yet however unbalanced this situation has
become, Ellen finds she’s growing stronger. Inwardly matured and convinced that there must be a specific
place in the world where she is needed, Ellen is ready to venture a new beginning...
Genre Drama Year of Production 2010 Director Pia Marais Screenplay Horst Markgraf, Pia Marais Director of
Photography Hélene Louvart Producers Claudia Steffen, Christoph Friedel Production Company Pandora Film
Produktion/Cologne, in co-production with WDR/Cologne, ARTE/Strasbourg Principal Cast Jeanne Balibar,
Stefan Stern, Georg Friedrich, Julia Hummer, Alexander Scheer, Eva Löbau, Clare Mortimer, Ian Roberts,
Jasna Bauer, Patrick Bartsch Length 95 min Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.66 Original Version German Subtitled
Version English Sound Technology Dolby Digital Festivals Locarno 2010 (International Competition), Toronto
2010 World Sales The Match Factory GmbH · Michael Weber · Balthasarstrasse 79-81 50670 Cologne/Germany
phone +49-2 21-5 39 70 90 · fax +49-2 21-5 39 70 910 · email info@matchfactory.de · www.the-match-factory.com
Pia Marais grew up in South Africa, Sweden and Spain. She studied Sculpture and Photography in London,
Amsterdam and Düsseldorf before going on to study Film at the German Film & Television Academy (dffb) in
Berlin. She made several shorts, including Loop (1996), Deranged (1998), Tricky People (1999), and 17 (2003).
After several engagements in the film business as a casting director and assistant director, she made her
feature debut with The Unpolished (2007), which screened at many film festivals and won various prizes,
including the Tiger Award in 2007 in Rotterdam. Her second feature film At Ellen's Age (2010) was developed
in the Résidence du Festival de Cannes.
Screenings
Public:
17 Sept. 22:00 Bell Lightbox 3
18 Sept. 21:15 Scotiabank 3
19 Sept. 15:00 Jackman Hall – AGO
Press & Industry:
10 Sept. 19:00 Scotiabank 11
23 •••

photo © Arno Roca

It came from the sea… to fuck the dead back to life.
L.A. ZOMBIE
Emerged from the Pacific Ocean, an alien zombie gets picked up by a surfer in a truck. On the way to
Los Angeles, a severe accident occurs and the surfer gets killed. The alien zombie fucks the dead man back
to life. When the creature enters the city, it becomes increasingly unclear whether he really is a zombie or
a schizophrenic person who is suffering from delusions. Like some kind of dark savior, the alien zombie
proceeds to find various dead men and fuck them back to life...
Genre Erotic, Fantasy/Science Fiction, Horror Year of Production 2010 Director Bruce LaBruce Screenplay
Bruce LaBruce Director of Photography James Carman Producers Bruce LaBruce, Arno Rok, Robert Felt,
Maciek Dziekiewicz, Damian Todaro, Jürgen Brüning, Jörn Hartmann Production Companies PPV Networks/
New York, Wurstfilm/Berlin, Dark Alley Media/New York Principal Cast François Sagat, Rocco Giovanni,
Wolf Hudson, Eddie Diaz Length 63 min Format HDCAM, color, 16:9 Original Version English Sound
Technology Stereo Festivals Locarno 2010, Toronto 2010 World Sales Raspberry & Cream · Nadja Jumah
Prinzessinnenstrasse 16 · 10969 Berlin/Germany · phone/fax +49-30-61 50 75 05 · email nadja@raspberryand
cream.com · www.raspberryandcream.com
Bruce LaBruce is a writer, filmmaker, and photographer based in Toronto. In 1991, he released his first
feature film, No Skin Off My Ass – an exploration of the sordid relationship between a hairdresser and a mute,
handsome young skinhead. His follow-up feature Super 8 1/2 is a cautionary biopic about LaBruce’s rocky rise
to cult stardom. Hustler White, made in collaboration with photographer Rick Castro, was released in 1996
and premiered at Sundance. In 1998, LaBruce shot his first porn movie in London, Skin Flick, following a gang
of neo-Nazi which breaks into the home of a bourgeois gay couple. In 2004, he made another film about
Germans adopting the culture and politics of the left wing movements of the 1970s, The Raspberry Reich,
followed by Otto; or, Up with Dead People, among others.
Screenings
Public:
16 Sept. 21:45 Bell Lightbox 2
18 Sept. 16:00 AMC 9
19 Sept. 20:30 AMC 10
Press & Industry:
14 Sept. 13:15 Scotiabank 9
Vanguard
25 •••

photo © Helga Fanderl

BLOW-UPS:
PORTRAIT,
TEA TIME,
RED CURTAIN
Wavelengths
BLOW-UPS:
PORTRAIT,
TEETRINKEN,
ROTER VORHANG
In this triptych, the filmmaker evokes the portrait of a man, capturing his gazes and gestures at different
moments and sites. The original silent Super 8 films are in-camera-edited and have been blown-up to 16 mm.
Genre Experimental Short Year of Production 2010 Director Helga Fanderl Length 7 min Format 16 mm,
b&w, 1:1.33 Original Version silent Festivals Toronto 2010 World Sales Helga Fanderl · Sonnenweg 84
60529 Frankfurt/Germany · email h.fanderl@gmail.com · www.helgafanderl.com
Helga Fanderl was born in 1947 in Ingolstadt. She studied German and Romance Languages and
Literature in Munich, Paris and Frankfurt, followed by art school studies in Frankfurt and New York.
Her work is represented in museums, galleries and cinemas around the world. Today, she lives and works
in Frankfurt and Paris.
Screening
11 Sept. 16:30 Jackman Hall - AGO
27 •••

photo © James Benning/schaf oder scharf film

RUHR
Ruhr is James Benning's first film shot outside the US and presents the American artist's perspective on the
Ruhr district in Germany, a region formed by coal mining, industrialization and its working class inhabitants.
Using Duisburg as his starting point, Benning sets out on small trips to explore the area and the relationship
of labor, culture and art – culture emanating from labor, labor generating culture, and art completing the
societal definition of culture. Filming took place at a steel plant in Duisburg as well as at the “Bramme für
das Ruhrgebiet”, a monolithic sculpture by Richard Serra positioned on a former mining dump in Essen.
Benning also visited the Friday prayer at the Duisburg mosque in Marxloh and took a look at everyday life in
a small back road in Essen. Every scene adheres to a rigid framework, a matrix of processes whose specific
rhythms compartmentalize time and thus help interweaving history and change with the narrative structure
of the film. Ruhr is more than a portrait of a region subject to structural change and an example of the
paradigm shift in the cultural history of labor. It is also an hommage to the Ruhr district and its people,
to those who work to form their region's culture.
Genre Documentary Year of Production 2009 Director James Benning Screenplay James Benning Director
of Photography James Benning Producer Zorana Musikic Production Company schaf oder scharf film/Berlin
Length 120 min Format HDCAM, color, 1:1.78 Original Version no dialogue Sound Technology Dolby SR
Festivals Duisburg 2009, Rotterdam 2010, CCCB Barcelona 2010, Buenos Aires 2010, It’s All True Sao
Paulo/Rio de Janeiro 2010, Indielisboa 2010, Era New Horizons Warsaw 2010, Toronto 2010, New York Film
Festival 2010, Vancouver 2010 World Sales schaf oder scharf film · Zorana Musikic · Gleimstrasse 27 · 10437
Berlin/Germany · phone +49-30-41 99 66 13 · email zorana@schafoderscharf.de · www.schafoderscharf.de
James Benning was born in 1942 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is the son of German immigrants and
studied Film at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Working as an independent filmmaker, Benning’s
films focus on a sense of place, and are often built from long, unedited takes. His films include: California
Trilogy - El Valley Centro (2000), Sogobi (2001), Los (2001), 13 Lakes (2004), Ten Skies (2004), One Way Boogie
Woogie/27 Years Later (2005), Casting a Glance (2007), and RR (2007). In addition to his film work, Benning
has held professorships at Bard College and Northwestern University. Since 1987, he has taught filmmaking
and experimental sound at the California Institute of the Arts.
Screening
11 Sept. 21:15 Jackman Hall - AGO
Wavelengths
29 •••

••• 30
Further German-International Participants at TIFF 2010
Special Presentations
CIRKUS COLUMBIA by Danis Tanovic
(BA/FR/GB/DE/SI/BE)
German Producer: Razor Film/Berlin
World Sales: The Match Factory/Cologne
DEEP IN THE WOODS by Benoît Jacquot (FR/DE)
German Producer: Egoli Tossell Film/Berlin
World Sales: Films Distribution/Paris
Contemporary World Cinema
22ND OF MAY by Koen Mortier (BE/DE/NL)
German Producer: The Post Republic/Berlin
World Sales: CCCP Epidemic/Brussels
BLACK OCEAN by Marion Hänsel (BE/FR/DE)
German Producer: Neue Pegasos
Filmproduktion/Frankfurt
World Sales: Doc & Film International/Paris
HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
by Bent Hamer (NO/DE/SE)
German Producer: Pandora Film Produktion/Cologne
World Sales: The Match Factory/Cologne
THE HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER
by Eran Riklis (IL/DE/FR/RO)
German Producer: Pallas Film/Halle
World Sales: Pyramide International/Paris
THE SOLITUDE OF PRIME NUMBERS
by Saverio Costanzo (IT/FR/DE)
German Producer: Bavaria Pictures/Munich
World Sales: Le Pacte/Paris
TENDER SON – THE FRANKENSTEIN PROJECT
by Kornél Mundruczó (HU/DE/AT)
German Producer: Essential Filmproduktion/Berlin
World Sales: Coproduction Office/Paris
City to City
10 TO 11 by Pelin Esmer (TR/FR/DE)
German Producer: Bredok Film Production/Berlin
World Sales: Sinefilm/Istanbul
SEPTEMBER 12 by Özlem Sulak (TR/DE)
German Producer: Galerie Antje Wachs/Berlin
World Sales: Özlem Sulak/Hanover
Visions
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF
NICOLAE CEAUSESCU by Andrei Ujica (RO/DE)
German Producer: Neue Mira
Filmproduktion/Bremen
World Sales: Mandragora International/Paris
BROWNIAN MOVEMENT
by Nanouk Leopold (NL/DE/BE)
German Producer: Coin Film/Cologne
World Sales: Films Distribution/Paris

THE FOUR TIMES
by Michelangelo Frammartino (IT/DE/CH)
German Producer: Essential Filmproduktion/Berlin
World Sales: Coproduction Office/Paris
K.364 A JOURNEY BY TRAIN
by Douglas Gordon (GB/DE/FR)
German Producer: Lost But Found Film/Berlin
World Sales: Lost But Found Film/Edinburgh
Discovery
AS IF I AM NOT THERE
by Juanita Wilson (IE/MK/SE/DE)
German Producer: WMG Film/Berlin
World Sales: Octagon Films/Bray
Masters
NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT
by Patricio Guzmán (FR/DE/CL)
German Producer: Blinker Filmproduktion/Cologne
World Sales: Pyramide International/Paris
UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN
RECALL HIS PAST LIVES
by Apichatpong Weerasethakul (TH/GB/FR/DE/ES)
German Producers: Geißendörfer Film- und
Fernsehproduktion & The Match Factory/Cologne
World Sales: The Match Factory/Cologne
Further German-International Participants at TIFF 2010
Real to Reel
CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS
by Werner Herzog (US)
Producer: Creative Differences Productions/
Los Angeles
World Sales: Submarine Entertainment/New York
Wavelengths
LEONA ALONE by Oliver Husain (CA)
Producer: Oliver Husain/Toronto
World Sales: Oliver Husain/Toronto
Future Projections
WORKERS LEAVING THE FACTORY
IN ELEVEN DECADES by Harun Farocki
Producer: Harun Farocki Filmproduktion/Berlin
World Sales: Harun Farocki Filmproduktion/Berlin
31 •••

CANADA
MARTIN
PAUL-HUS
SPAIN
LUIS ANGEL
RAMÍREZ
PAUL
BARKIN
CANADA
IRELAND
MARTINA
N I L A N D
Ankica Jurić Tilić Croatia
Robert Budreau Canada
Janine Jackowski
Germany
Matti Halonen
Finland
Canada
Andrzej Jakimowski Poland
www.efp-online.com
MARC-ANTOINE
ROBERT
FRANCE
JENNIFER
JONAS
CANADA
NEW CO-PRODUCTION EVENT
24 producers from Europe and Canada
at the Toronto International Film Festival®
PRODUCERS LAB
TORONTO
E U ROP E
Dolman
–
T r i s h
CANADA
10 – 12 September 2010
Reinier Selen
The Netherlands
www.omdc.on.ca
Canada
Corey
Marr
Bernard
Michaux
BRANDI-ANN
MILBRADT
CANADA
Andrew
Boutilier
Canada
Luxembourg
MONIKA KRISTL
Czech Republic
DAMON D'OLIVEIRA
Canada
HUNGARY
IVÁN
ANGELUSZ
JENNIFER
KAWAJA
Canada
Silje
Hopland Eik
Norway
Paul
Scherzer
CANADA
LIZ JARVIS CANADA
With the support of MEDIA International ® Toronto International Film Festival is
a registered trademark of the Toronto
International Film Festival Inc.
Sponsored by
EFP is supported by
www.tiff .net
Associated EFP members: Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Czech Film Center, EYE Film Institute Netherlands, Film Fund Luxembourg, Finnish Film
Foundation, German Films, ICAA/Spain, Irish Film Board, Magyar Filmunió/Hungary, Norwegian Film Institute, Polish Film Institute, Unifrance

With the aim of exchanging creative energy, experience and
talents and promoting the co-production of international
film projects, 12 European and 12 Canadian producers will
be meeting for the new initiative entitled PRODUCERS LAB
TORONTO. Created by the European Film Promotion (EFP)
in collaboration with the Ontario Media Development
Corporation (OMDC) and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the program will be launched this year
during the Toronto International Film Festival. Regarded as the key gateway to the North American market,
TIFF has always been important for European films. The MEDIA International program of the European Union
is supporting the initiative financially.
The program is designed for independent producers with a track record of successful project development
and production. Besides demonstrating a strong motivation in co-producing with Canada or Europe, they
all have experience in international co-productions and have a project ready to pitch. The EFP network
selected the European participants from the group of EFP’s PRODUCERS ON THE MOVE between 2006-2009.
The participants from Canada were chosen by OMDC and TIFF. Janine Jackowski is this year’s participating
producer from Germany.
Besides various networking opportunities, the three-day event includes pitching sessions, one-to-onemeetings
and case studies of completed European/Canadian co-productions, analyses and presentations
of financing sources and co-production structures.
Janine Jackowski studied Production and Media Studies at Munich's University
of Television and Film from 1998-2002, producing a number of shorts during her studies.
In 2000, she founded Komplizen Film with director Maren Ade and produced The Forest for
the Trees in 2003. Ade's graduation film was nominated for the German Film Award, won
a Special Jury Award at Sundance and was successful at numerous festivals. Janine has
also produced two films by Sonja Heiss: the Short Tiger-winner Christina Without and her
feature debut Hotel Very Welcome. In 2008, she produced Du bruit dans la tete by Vincent
Pluss and Maren Ade's second feature Everyone Else, which won two Silver Bears at the 2009 Berlinale
(Best Actress and Grand Jury Prize) as well as the FIPRESCI Award and Best Director at the Buenos Aires
International Film Festival. This year saw Janine producing Ulrich Köhler's latest feature The Sleeping
Sickness in Cameroon.
33 •••

••• 34
German World Sales Companies at TIFF 2010
Bavaria Film International
email in Toronto: toronto10@bfint.de
Thorsten Ritter · 14-19 September
mobile +49-172-8 58 70 14
email thorsten.ritter@bavaria-film.de
Stefanie Zeitler · 8-15 September
mobile +49-172-8 58 70 43
email stefanie.zeitler@bavaria-film.de
Sebastian Kiesmüller · 8-15 September
mobile +49-172-4 63 09 30
email sebastian.kiesmueller@bavaria-film.de
Beta Cinema
Dirk Schürhoff · 9-14 September
mobile +49-170-6 38 48 06
email dirk.schuerhoff@betafilm.com
Andreas Rothbauer · 9-16 September
mobile +49-151-54 45 89 21
email andreas.rothbauer@betacinema.com
EEAP Eastern European Acquisition Pool
Alexander van Dülmen · 10-14 September
mobile +49-163-8 87 75 00
email avd@eeap.eu
Films Boutique
Jean-Christophe Simon · 9-15 September
mobile +49-173-5 91 57 67
email simon@filmsboutique.com
Laura Inoka · 9-15 September
mobile +49-177-7 99 99 07
email laura@filmsboutique.com
K5 International
Daniel Baur · 9-15 September
Oliver Simon · 9-15 September
email info@k5international.com
M-Appeal / Raspberry & Cream
Nadja Jumah
Anne Wiedlack
The Match Factory
Michael Weber · 11-17 September
Brigitte Suárez · 9-16 September
mobile +49-172-8 55 61 95
Philipp Hoffmann · 9-18 September
mobile +49-172-1 78 81 53
Anne Götze · 9-17 September
mobile +49-172-8 51 21 09
Media Luna New Films
Ida Martins · 10-17 September
mobile +1-310-8 71 05 79
mobile +49-170-9 66 79 00
email idamartins@medialuna.biz

Imprint
Credits are not contractual for any of the films mentioned in this publication.
Screening schedules are subject to change.
Unfortunately we could not include film titles and screening times which
were announced after this publication went to press.
This brochure is published by:
German Films Service + Marketing GmbH
Herzog-Wilhelm-Strasse 16
80331 Munich/Germany
phone +49-89-59 97 87 0
fax +49-89-59 97 87 30
email info@german-films.de
www.german-films.de
German Films in Toronto
Hyatt Regency Hotel
Sales & Industry Area
King Ballroom
Christian Dorsch, mobile +49-171-834 6663
Oliver Mahrdt, mobile +1-917-495 5887
Martin Scheuring, mobile +49-160-93 11 96 57
Editors: Angela Hawkins, Martin Scheuring
Design: PUBLITAS, www.publitas.de
Printing Office: ESTA Druck GmbH, www.esta-druck.de
35 •••

www.german-films.de