2008 Program guide - Victoria Film Festival

WORLD PERSPECTIVE
26
THE COUNTERFEITERS
(DIE FÄLSCHER)
DIRECTOR: STEFAN RUZOWITZKY
AUSTRIA/GERMANY
2007 99 MINUTES 35MM
PRODUCERS: JOSEF AICHHOLZER, NINA BOHLMANN, BABETTE SCHRÖDER
WRITERS: STEFAN RUZOWITZKY FROM ADOLF BURGER’S BOOK
Operation Bernhard was the Nazi plan to forge millions of British
pounds and US dollars, with which to fl ood their enemies’
economies while fi lling their own fl agging war chest. In the biggest
counterfeiting scam ever, Jewish printers, typographers and others
in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp forged £130 million. But
their work in the so-called ‘golden cage’ of Sachsenhausen presented
these prisoners with a terrible moral dilemma: the more money they
produced, the longer they stayed alive - and the more they bolstered
the Nazi war effort.
The fi lm is told as the reminiscences of gaunt yet spirited Salomon
“Sally” Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics), who looks back on the Second
World War while on a gambling binge at Monte Carlo. In the Weimar
era, he was a libertine living the good life thanks to his considerable
counterfeiting abilities, but he was eventually arrested and sent to the
Mauthausen concentration camp. Always looking out for number one,
Sorowitsch keeps his nose clean and even becomes the camp’s resident
artist. Years later, he is unceremoniously sent to Sachsenhausen, where
it is announced that he is to forge bills with a group of inmates.
Played with extraordinary subtlety by Markovics, Sorowitsch is a
complex fi gure: a bona fi de artist who would rather forge than paint;
a pragmatist whose willingness to do whatever it takes to stay alive
belies a genuine compassion. Ruzowitzky’s direction is equally subtle.
Just as the conspirators are shielded from the full cruelty of the camp,
so too is the audience. Yet we know full well it’s right outside their
cushioned existence.
Friday • February 8 • Capitol 6 - 6 • 6:45 PM
CALIFORNIA
DREAMIN’ ENDLESS
DIRECTOR: CRISTIAN NEMESCU
ROMANIA
2007 155 MINUTES 35MM
PRODUCER: ANDREI BONCEA
WRITERS: TUDOR VOICAN, CRISTIAN NEMESCU
In the early summer of 1999 the Kosovo War is in its last stages.
Aboard a train that transports NATO equipment and army personnel
through Romania, US army Captain Doug Jones (Armand Assante) is in
charge. One of their stops is at an apparently insignifi cant train station
not even worthy of that name, though local station agent Doiaru
(Razvan Vasilescu) might disagree.
Though orally authorized by Bucharest offi cials, Doiaru insists on
receiving all the necessary export documentation on paper before
letting the convoy pass. “Rules are rules” seems to be his mantra,
though his own bending of them in order to advance his activities as
a shopkeeper of products that “fell off the wagon” shows that he is
really only after massaging his ego and fi lling his pockets.
As the hours become days, the soldiers are invited by the local mayor
to attend a celebration, where he tries to rally them for his cause,
as much as local workers at a factory try to attract the foreigners’
attention for a proposed strike. The local girls, including the daughter
of Doiaru also seem rather interested in the train full of fi t lonely men
with barely a thing to do.
California Dreamin’ Endless is chock-full of characters, incidents and
themes, including a larger exploration of the relationship between
Romania and the USA. The debut of Romanian director Cristian
Nemescu who died, at the age of 27 in a car accident, while the fi lm
was in postproduction won the top prize of the Un certain regard
section at the Cannes Film Festival.
Friday • February 1 • Capitol 6 - 1 • 9:30 PM
Monday • February 4 • Odeon • 9:30 PM