KODAK VISION3 250D Color Negative Film 5207/7207 - German Film

Alice Dwyer in “Was Du nicht siehst” (photo © Lichtblick Film/Yannick Derennes)
ACTRESS’ PORTRAIT
her and she was unsuccessful at many castings. Because she often
managed to reach the final round, however, she continued to work on
her dream consistently. Finally, it was fulfilled at the age of eleven,
when director Ulla Wagner cast her in the leading role of the sensitively
narrated film Anna Wunder (2000), in which she played an
eleven-year-old girl compelled to struggle with the emotional entanglements
of puberty in a small town during the 1960s. Dwyer got
some positive criticism and the way was smoothed towards her role
in Baby (2002). In this social drama she seduced her father’s friend
– and because she did so with remarkable credibility for a 13-year-old,
there were a number of “Lolita offers” afterwards. Alice refused them
all, going for variety instead. Over the years, therefore, she has developed
an image as an accomplished character actress: she played a
cigarette smuggler in Hans-Christian Schmid’s prize-winning drama
Distant Lights (Lichter, 2003), was unbelievably funny in Peas
at 5:30 (Erbsen auf halb sechs, 2004), a great success with the
critics, and has even attempted more experimental formats like the
ZDF production Feuer in der Nacht, which was acted and
broadcast entirely live in 2004. But as an established member of a
new young acting elite, she has helped, above all, to shape the independent
films of an equally promising generation of filmmakers,
who tell their coming-of-age stories in a fresh, often courageous way:
showing a positive attitude to life in The Smile of the
Monsterfish (Das Laecheln der Tiefseefische, 2004), with
great bravery in Combat Sixteen (Kombat Sechszehn,
2005), in a bizarre, fairy-tale fashion in the Venice festival entry Head
Under Water (Freischwimmer, 2007), or with absolute scurrility
in the 45-minute short film Torpedo (2008), in which she plays
a girl traumatized after the death of her mother who suddenly turns
up to share her aunt’s life on Berlin’s cultural scene. In 2008, all this
was followed by the film industry’s first and surely long-deserved
honor: Dwyer was awarded the Max Ophuels Prize for the Best Upand-Coming
Actress for her achievements in the German-
Argentinean drama My Mother’s Tears (Die Traenen meiner
Mutter, 2008) and the progressively narrated feature
Hoehere Gewalt. She is continuing on the upward path in 2009 as
well: her recently completed independent film Was Du nicht
siehst has an excellent chance of recognition at international festivals
thanks to its subtly nuanced screenplay and top-class young cast.
At the age of only nine, Alice Dwyer – born in Berlin in 1988 –
secretly registered with an acting agency, so confronting her surprised
parents with her career hopes. She proved just how serious she was
about them over the next two years, when no parts were found for
Mokkabar, Kreuzberg, Berlin. Alice Dwyer is wearing jeans, a simple
top and her hair loose. She looks natural and sensual, like a young
woman who can get along well without putting on a show. She was the
Agent: Hoestermann Agentur fuer Schauspieler
Gneisenaustrasse 94 · 10961 Berlin/Germany
phone +49-30-69 50 18 81 · fax +49-30-69 50 18 88
email: mail@hoestermann.de · www.hoestermann.de
SENSUALITY WITH
PRINCIPLES
A portrait of Alice Dwyer
one to choose our meeting place, and in a way this alternative, multicultural
and perhaps most honest part of Berlin seems representative
of her mentality: “I grew up in Schoeneberg and Kreuzberg and I still
german films quarterly actress’ portrait
3 · 2009 12