Titel Kino 1/2002 - German Cinema

Some films are driven by effects, others by action. Kadir
Sözen’s Gott ist tot (translation ”God is Dead“) is character
driven.
Götz George plays the unemployed Heinrich Lutter, who lives
with his sons, ex-convict Mike (Markus Knüfken) and handicapped-from-birth
Günni (Bastian Trost).
Heinrich’s pride and joy is his motor-home. It symbolizes his
hopes for freedom and a better life in Italy; hopes which receive a
major blow when it’s impounded by the authorities. Undeterred,
Heinrich is determined to stand up for his rights and fulfill his
ambitions, the honest way.
Mike sees things completely differently and his criminal schemes
only serve to put the tentative attempts at reconciliation between
father and son to a hard test.
”The film shows the protagonists’ poverty,“ says writer-producerdirector
Sözen. ”I don’t mean their financial poverty, but more
their emotional poverty. Underscoring and emphasizing this are
moments of wild amusement and scenes of triumphant selfproclamation.
The film is intended to provoke social criticism.“
Gott ist tot is a story about home (as in where the heart is)
and lack of orientation, social coldness and emotion.
Visually, Sözen has opted for a documentary-style narrative
(”The camera works close up to the protagonists but still allows
them room to breathe,“ he says) but not at the expense of what
he calls ”poetical pictures.“
Götz George’s filmography embraces the best of late twentieth
century German filmmaking. His credits include Schtonk! (1992,
Helmut Dietl), The Deathmaker (Der Totmacher,
1995, Romuald Karmakar), Rossini (1997, Helmut
Dietl), Solo for Clarinet (Solo für Klarinette, 1998,
Nico Hofmann), and After The Truth (Roland Suso
Richter).
Markus Knüfken has featured in Knockin’ on Heaven’s
Door (1996, Thomas Jahn), Bang Boom Bang – A Sure
Thing (1998, Peter Thorwarth) while Bastian Trost’s
credits include Aimée & Jaguar (1997, Max Färberböck)
and After The Truth (also with Götz George).
Kadir Sözen was born in Turkey in 1964 and came to Germany
in 1969. He later studied Economics and worked as a freelance
journalist. His debut film, Freezing Nights, won five of the
eight awards at the Adana Film Festival in 1995. His second film,
Winterflower (1996), has played in festivals around the world,
winning awards in Spain, Turkey and Portugal.
Harte Brötchen
Original Title Harte Brötchen Type of Project TV-movie
Genre Romantic Comedy Production Company teamWorx
Produktion für Kino und Fernsehen, Munich, for Bayerischer
Rundfunk, Munich With backing from Filmstiftung NRW,
FilmFernsehFonds Bayern Producer Bettina Reitz Director
Tim Trageser Screenplay Sylvia Leuker Director of
Photography Eckhard Jansen Editor Anja Pohl Principal
Cast Katharina Thalbach, Uwe Ochsenknecht, Herbert Knaup,
Anna Thalbach Format Super 16 mm, color, 1:1.66 Shooting
Language German Shooting in Oberhausen and surrounding
area in October and November 2001
Kino 1/2002
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Katharina Thalbach, Herbert Knaup (photo © teamWorx)
in production
Contact:
teamWorx Produktion für Kino und
Fernsehen GmbH · Christine Gadocha
Widenmayerstr. 16 · D-80538 Munich
phone +49-89-2 42 87 81 26 · fax +49-89-2 42 87 81 10
www.teamworx.de
email: christine.gadocha@teamworx.de
A small shop, a secret recipe for meatballs and an angel trying to
earn his wings; the perfect ingredients for a star-studded romantic
comedy.
Slap in the middle of a rundown industrial area stands the rundown
shop belonging to Christa (Katharina Thalbach) and
husband Theo (Uwe Ochsenknecht). For them and their few
regular customers, especially Theo’s buddies, it’s a home away
from home. Business is bad. Not that it was ever any better.
Everybody’s broke and Theo has been more than very generous
in extending his friends credit.
When Theo suddenly dies, Christa’s left with a mountain of
debts, her tyrannical mother and two daughters, Sonja (Anna
Thalbach) and Dany (Regine Zimmermann), who really
don’t want to know; one’s busy flying around the world, the other
just wants an unpaid babysitter. And if that wasn’t enough, no
sooner is Theo safely six feet under than he’s back – as an angel
without his wings! They’ll grow only if he can make Christa happy.
That’s a tall order because he certainly failed while he was alive.
But Theo has an idea – the recipe for the best meatballs in the
district should bring the customers flocking and the money pouring
in. The perfect plan, if Christa wasn’t a committed vegetarian.
And when she falls in love with teacher and pigeon-fancier Jörg
(Herbert Knaup), it looks like the deal’s over.
A humorous and affectionate hommage to the people and the
area of the Ruhr, Germany’s industrial heartland, Harte
Brötchen (translates as ”Stale Rolls“) features Katharina
Thalbach (from Sun Alley and The Manns) and Uwe
Ochsenknecht, who won a German Television Award 2001 for
his performance in the TV two-part society scandal-murder story,
Vera Brühne. Also appearing is Anna Thalbach, who has
also won a German Television Award 2001 for an episode of the
famed crime series Tatort.
Sylvia Leuker wrote the script as part of the Bavarian Film
Center’s First Movie Program, while director Tim
Trageser is a second-place winner of the 2001 Studio Hamburg
Newcomer’s Award for his debut film, Clowns. Director of photography
Eckhard Jansen’s previous credits include Clowns and
Peter Thorwarth’s Bang Boom Bang – A Sure Thing.
Harte Brötchen is a co-production of teamWorx and
Bayerischer Rundfunk (resp. Dr. Gabriela Sperl,
Brigitte Schroedter) for the public broadcaster ARD.
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