B_Cards, neu - german films

MORDOGAN (photo © Jessica Krummacher)
On the occasion of the TOTEM premiere at Venice in 2011, in
conversation with Ed Meza, correspondent for Variety, Jessica
Krummacher commented critically on the situation for newgeneration
filmmakers, contradicting the image of the widelyspread
German film support system with rare openness. She
and Timo Müller had applied for support for TOTEM and
MORSCHOLZ, but did not receive any. And so the two films were
made without support budgets because, as the director emphasizes,
the promotion of new-generation films is linked to television
broadcasters and therefore restrictive, too interested in
well-trodden paths to ensure viewing quotas.
The young filmmaker, who describes herself as a fool for
figures, is well aware of the reverse side to the no-budget concept:
in the long term and “from a political standpoint” she
thinks it is unacceptable to finance the achievements of her
team through self-exploitative deferred fees. “New-generation
support needs to be more open and courageous”: she is
convinc ed of that. She registers with skepticism the mass of
new-generation projects tending towards the mainstream because
they are adapted and dressed down in the preparation
phase. She also observes the situation of radical cultural
change with concern, fearing that the audience for difficult
cinema films may fall away completely.
Her greatest dream is one of new production possibilities, new
freedom for the cinema, a revolutionized world of television. In
the meantime she is preparing her next feature film project,
MORDOGAN, a story about a German who owns a holiday home
in Turkey, and his friend, a re-migrant from Germany back to
Turkey – at least this time it is with support for the screenplay
from Bavaria. More important than this, she has received the
Eurimages Co-Production Development Award for MORDOGAN,
which corresponds to €30,000 for the development of a co-production
with Turkey.
In addition, she is working on the development and production
of the documentary film DER ROTE BERG by Timo Müller. This
project is about a hermit who has been living in a cliff-face
above a major state highway for twenty years now. The 62-yearold
man is convinced that he has found a city dating back 4,000
years. Against all opposition, he is excavating the remains of
this city.
Jessica Krummacher is determined that one day she will be
able to make a living from her unusual, stimulating films.
Claudia Lenssen
DIRECTOR PORTRAIT
JESSICA KRUMMACHER grew up in Bochum. She studied
Politics and Media Art in Bochum and Karlsruhe, as well as
Documentary Film and TV-Journalism at the University of Tele -
vision & Film (HFF) in Munich. She has been making short films
since 2000, when she also began working in various other areas
of film, primarily as a producer. DIE KINDER VON AHAUS (2005),
her documentary film portrait of two farming families in the
shadow of a German atomic waste storage facility, was support -
ed by Greenpeace and shown at national festivals. In their joint
production company kLAPPbOXfILME, Jessica Krummacher
produced the feature film debut of her partner Timo Müller,
MORSCHOLZ, a surreal snapshot of a post-proletarian, pro -
vincial family, which was awarded the New-Generation Award
for Best Direction at the Munich Film Festival in 2008. TOTEM,
Jessica Krummacher’s feature film debut – for which she also
acted as author, editor and co-producer – was made as her
graduation film at the HFF Munich. TOTEM, the subtle portrait
of a young, suicidal home-help caught in the clutches of a compulsive
family, was premiered as the only German con tribution
to the Venice Film Festival 2011, in the 26th Settimana della
critica. The film ran with considerable success and earned
numerous positive press reviews at the Viennale in Vienna, the
International Film Festival Rotterdam, the FIC Gijon in Spain,
the BAFICI in Buenos Aires, and German film festivals in Saarbrücken
(Max Ophüls Prize), Schwerin and Ludwigshafen.
Distri buted by Filmgalerie 451, TOTEM was launch ed in German
cinemas in 2012.
Contact
kLAPPbOXfILME
info@klappboxfilme.de
www.klappboxfilme.de
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