GFQ 2-2007 - german films

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He explains that the new project is “also a ‘film within a film’: the three friends from Germany embark to the USA, the paradise of fame and fortune. The plan is to turn one of them into a media star named John F. Salinger [played by Stahlberg], by shooting his first, unforget - table and, in many ways, exceptional movie. But the price for eternal fame is high. John F. Salinger is willing to give everything for it and that can be a lot …” “In contrast to Quiet as a Mouse, Short Cut to Hollywood is a very emotional story,” Mittermeier and Stahlberg suggest. “John F. Salinger is looking for the purpose of his life. Our 35-year-old hero hasn’t really achieved anything and is longing for ‘true’ meaning and love. John F. Salinger is a tragic hero and evolves, despite the humor and ab surdity, into a living legend within the story of the film.” Turning to the issue of media satire addressed in their film, the directorial duo point out that “the world is constantly looking for a new superstar, the next hot thing. Who hasn’t had the dream of fame and success? The dream of a life with glory, screaming groupies, money, stardom and the feeling of being loved for your exceptional nature. If you thought talent separates the wheat from the chaff, think again! Today, anybody can be a superstar as long as the media pay attention.” “If it’s true that success comes from breaking limits, we are not far off from our hero’s story,” they continue. “Whether it approves or not, the theater audience has to admit that John F. Salinger is right about the world we live in. The recipe for great success is breaking great taboos.” Mittermeier and Stahlberg describe their film as “a ride on the razor blade because our heroes are unpredictable. Every time you think you know what to feel about them, the pendulum swings into the op - posite direction. At times, you will be with them, laugh at them or scorn them. Nevertheless, deep inside you understand and sympa - thize with them. Once more, we will break conventions and go past limits.” Kreuzer admits that it has been a “big challenge to make a road movie like this for a modest budget”, but “looking at the rushes, one can see that the team has really captured the American look with many extraordinary locations to render lots of production value. Audiences will see locations throughout the US they know well including New York, Florida, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. Especially the ones in Arizona and New Mexico remind you of films like Easy Rider.” Marcos Kantis, producer at Schiwago Film, which also produced Quiet as a Mouse and is now working with Stahlberg for the third time, underlines thanks to the support of Capture Film, “we managed to produce the film with a value which multiplies its low budget many times over.” He adds that for future projects, there might be a similar co-production set-up. Produced by Schiwago Film, Muxfilm, Bavaria Pictures and Bavaria Film with Capture Film International and Artdeluxe as co-producers, Short Cut to Hollywood is the first project with a foreign shoot to benefit from the recently establish ed German Federal Film Fund (DFFF). It will be distributed theatrically in Germany by Senator Film and handled internationally by Bavaria Film International. MB Stellungswechsel Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Social Comedy Production Company Claussen+Woebke+Putz Film/Munich, in co-production with ZDF/Mainz, in cooperation with ARTE/ Strasbourg With backing from German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, MEDIA Producers Jakob Claussen, Uli Putz, Thomas Woebke Director Maggie Peren Screenplay Maggie Peren, Christian Bayer Director of Photography Christian Rein Editor Peter Kirschbaum Music by Superstrings (Caro Heiss, Marc Sidney Mueller) Production Design Heike Lange Principal Cast Florian Lukas, Sebastian Bezzel, Gustav P. Woehler, Kostja Ullmann, Herbert Knaup, Lisa Maria Potthoff, Nina Kronjaeger, Ulrike Kriener, Diana Staehly Casting An Dorthe Braker Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby Surround Shooting Language German Shooting in Munich, January – February 2007 German Distributor 20th Century Fox (Germany)/Frankfurt World Sales TELEPOOL GmbH · Wolfram Skowronnek Sonnenstrasse 21 · 80331 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-55 87 60 · fax +49-89-55 87 62 29 email: cinepool@telepool.de · www.telepool.de What do five (male) losers do when life has dealt them too many lemons? Well, in the case of Frank (Doctor of Philology and househusband), Gy (police officer locked in an eternal struggle with his health insurance company), Olli (delicatessen owner, no customers), Giselher (unemployed and most likely to stay that way) and Lasse (the living definition of a non-starter) the answer is … No, NOT make lemonade! But rather start an escort agency for women, offering “German gourmet food to get your hands on!” Although the German language does not lend itself to the same level of punning and wordplaying that English does, the word ‘Stellungswechsel’ means to change one’s position, as in getting a differ ent job, as well as, quite literally, shifting your body posture. It also applies in a sexual context … With wordplays and situational comedy to the fore, writer-director Maggie Peren again proves she is one of the most versatile hyphenates working in contemporary German cinema. “The idea came from my co-author, Christian Bayer,” says Peren, “and I found it very sweet. It was intensive work because they are german films quarterly in production 2 · 2007 40 Director Maggie Peren with her male cast (photo © Clausen+Woebke+Putz Film)
offering to sleep with women via the Internet, so the characters need - ed to stay sympathetic. It’s a social comedy, after all.” “The main character, Frank, is very similar to Christian,” Peren con - tinues, “while the girls are based on women I’ve met. We did a lot of research and wrote over sixteen drafts. I have to say, comedy can be a real nightmare!” Then she confesses she’s working on, yes, another comedy, Bloody Germans, about the 1996 World Cup in which England was knocked out by Germany in the semi-finals, on penalties! And an England fan is forced to admit he’s the father of a German child! Peren’s many credits include Vergiss Amerika (1999), the multi-Grimme Award winning TV movie Das Phantom (1999) and the smash hit comedy Girls on Top (2001). She then turned her talents to the Third Reich with Napola (2004) and co-authored (with Stefan Schaller) Detlev Buck’s latest film Haende weg von Mississippi. As befits an ensemble film, Stellungswechsel has assembled some top notch Teutonic thesps. Florian Lukas (Frank) won Best Supporting Actor in the 2003 German Film Awards for Good Bye, Lenin!. Sebastian Bezzel (Gy) is one of Germany’s best known TV cops. Gustav Woehler, when not singing with his band, has featur ed in, among many, Doris Doerrie’s Der Fischer und seine Frau and Sven Unterwaldt’s 7 Zwerge comedies. Herbert Knaup (Giselher) was in the OSCAR-winning Das Leben der Anderen while Kostja Ullmann (Lasse) starred in Verfolgt, which won a Golden Leopard at Locarno in 2006. Claussen+Woebke+Putz Filmproduktion can claim the credit for many a critical and audience hit. To name just a few: the horror films Anatomie and Anatomie 2, the OSCAR-nominated Jenseits der Stille, Crazy, 23 and Lichter. SK Vier sind einer zuviel H. Jaenicke, M. Brandt, J.-G. Kremp, B. Auer (photo © Nicolas Maack) Type of Project TV Movie Genre Romantic Comedy Production Company mementoFilm/Berlin, in co-production with NDR/Hamburg Producers Markus Gruber, Doris J. Heinze Director Torsten C. Fischer Screenplay Hans G. Raeth, Sathyan Ramesh Director of Photography Achim Poulheim Editor Benjamin Hembus Production Design Martin Schreiber Principal Cast Barbara Auer, Matthias Brandt, Hannes Jaenicke, Jan-Gregor Kremp Casting Gitta Uhlig Format 16 mm, color, Stereo Shooting Language German Shooting in Hamburg and surroundings, February – March 2007 Contact mementoFilm GmbH · Andrea Guenther Leibniz Strasse 33 · 10625 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-43 72 79 10 · fax +49-30-43 72 79 19 email: a.guenther@mementofilm.de www.mementofilm.de Spare a thought for what has to be one of the hardest genres of them all, the romantic comedy, or romcom as it is affectionately known. Now, factor in this is a German romcom and, be honest now, you’re most likely playing the word association game: which is to say the two words you least associate with Germany are comedy and romantic! Well … you lose! Because, contrary to popular belief, there is a very strong and developed German romcom tradition that, for business and structural reasons, exists primarily on TV. Long introduction to one side, Vier sind einer zuviel (trans - lation: “Four is One Too Many”) takes the traditional ingredients (men and a woman) and serves up a helping of bittersweet romantic comedy in which melancholy and slapstick harmonize in a swirl of delicious delight. Lisa (Barbara Auer) discovers on her wedding anniversary that husband Felix (Matthias Brandt) makes her really unhappy, and vice versa. She packs her bags and takes up residence in a shabby hotel to get her thoughts together, with little success. Felix, mean - while, makes the transition from househusband to homeless. Lisa then lands in a shared apartment with Chris (Hannes Jaenicke) and Edgar (Jan-Gregor Kremp), two not-quite-over-the-hill ladies’ men. Separate soon be come shared beds. Life is great, until the po - lice deliver a handcuffed Felix to her door. Now four really are one too many! Production company mementoFilm was founded in Cologne in 2001, with the Berlin subsidiary opening its doors in 2005. With an impressive number of films, for the big as well as small screen, already under the belt, company credits include the 2002 Das Jahr der ersten Kuesse and the TV movie Der Anwalt und sein Gast (2002), which won a slew of awards including the Nymphe D’Or at the 43rd Monte Carlo Television Festival 2002 for Best Actor (Goetz George) and director Torsten C. Fischer took the 2003 German Television Award for Best Director. On Vier sind einer zuviel Fischer again occupies the director’s chair and is working again with Barbara Auer who also starred in his feature film Liebeswunsch. SK german films quarterly in production 2 · 2007 41
Page 1 and 2: German Films Quarterly 2 · 2007 AT
Page 3 and 4: OF THE Cannes Film Festival 2007 60
Page 5 and 6: 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56
Page 7 and 8: That is Next Generation’s drawing
Page 9 and 10: Scene from “Rocks” programmers
Page 11 and 12: like to see implemented. And the mi
Page 13 and 14: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? A selection of
Page 15 and 16: NEXT GENERATION 1998 - 2007 Next Ge
Page 17 and 18: NEXT GENERATION 2007 A Selection of
Page 19 and 20: In spite of the ups and downs durin
Page 21 and 22: Watch her shorts and you’ll know
Page 23 and 24: Similarly, Stefan Tolz was a gradua
Page 25 and 26: “At the time, I set myself a pers
Page 27 and 28: M. Wiedemann, U. Muehe, Q. Berg, S.
Page 29 and 30: FFF Bayern’s Dr. Klaus Schaefer,
Page 31 and 32: GERMAN ANIMATIONS IN ANNECY For the
Page 33 and 34: World Sales TELEPOOL GmbH · Wolfra
Page 35 and 36: Moreover, the venture will also be
Page 37 and 38: World Sales Beta Cinema / Dept. of
Page 39: However, Roehler and Sperl are not
Page 43 and 44: Die Anruferin THE CALLING GAME “P
Page 45 and 46: Autopiloten AUTOPILOTS Autopilots t
Page 47 and 48: Dos Patrias Cuba y la noche TWO HOM
Page 49 and 50: Halbe Stunden HALF HOURS Melanie St
Page 51 and 52: Das Herz ist ein dunkler Wald THE H
Page 53 and 54: Libanon - Standhalten im Wahnsinn L
Page 55 and 56: Mikrofan Sam is a rapper, so are hi
Page 57 and 58: Monks - The Transatlantic Feedback
Page 59 and 60: Osdorf The highrise estate Osdorfer
Page 61 and 62: Prater Vienna’s Prater is an amus
Page 63 and 64: Der Rote Elvis THE RED ELVIS On the
Page 65 and 66: Die Wilden Huehner und die Liebe WI
Page 67 and 68: GERMAN FILMS SHAREHOLDERS & SUPPORT
Page 69 and 70: ASSOCIATION OF GERMAN FILM EXPORTER
Page 71 and 72: Walter Brus Phone +49-(0)89-3809-17
Page 73 and 74: 7 GERMAN FILMS PREVIEWS 2007 12 - 1
Page 75 and 76: FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES IMPRINT Arg

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