Croatian Films Features, Documentaries & Animation ... - HAVC

MINORITY CO-PRODUCTIONned | cro | fra | uk09/2012 | 128’ | 35mm, hd | ColourHistorical drama | English | DutchGoltzius and the Pelican CompanyDirected by Peter GreenawayKasander FilmDelftsestraat 333013 ae Rotterdam, NetherlandsTel: +31 (0)10 43 33 043Fax: +31 (0)10 43 33 061info@kasanderfilm.nlwww.kasanderfilm.nlMP Film ProductionNova cesta 6010 000 Zagreb, CroatiaTel: +385 (0)1 3822 022Fax: +385 (0)1 4836 039igor@mainframeproduction.comIn 1600, the Dutch engraver and printer Goltzius tellsthe story of his adventures in the winter of 1590, whenhe travelled to Colmar in Alsace to raise finance fora new printing press. In a flashback we see how hetries to enlist the liberal-minded Margrave of Alsaceas a patron in the production of two grand illustratedbooks, a version of the Old Testament and a versionof Ovid’s Metamorphoses. To sweeten the possibilityof a deal, Goltzius, together with the male and femalemembers of his printing and theatrical company,stages six dramatizations of erotic stories from theBible, symbolizing the six sexual taboos of fornication,incest, adultery, paedophilia, prostitution and necrophilia– Adam and Eve, Lot and his Daughters, Davidand Bathsheba, Potiphar’s Wife, Samson and Delilah,and (from the New Testament) Salome and John theBaptist.The frank dramatizations of these erotic stories provokesurprise, shock and controversy at the court andamong the court ecclesiastics – a Roman Catholicpriest, a Calvinist minister and a Jewish Rabbi. Theerotic pleasures also tempt and entice the Margrave,his family and his court into a dangerous game ofsexual intrigue, resulting in the beheading of Goltzius’splaywright Boethius, who plays the role of John theBaptist. The ensuing scandal disgraces the Margrave,forcing him to pay for the printing press and agree tocommission the books, with a suggestion that Goltziusshould return to Alsace when he finishes the Old Testamentcommission, to begin work on the volume ofstories from Ovid, to be called Goltzius and Spranger.10 Features 2012