Official Selection - Competition 2015 / Heil / Germany 2015
Renowned German filmmaker Dietrich Brüggemann (Stations of the Cross) has come out with a radical satirical comedy where, in the carefree spirit of punk, he pitches into the neo-Nazis, the media, police, and the European Union. The acrid commentary on the state of contemporary German society fed to the viewer at an impressive tempo can easily be applied to the countries bordering the director’s homeland.
“You can call me when you’re ruling Germany and invading Poland,” an attractive ultra-right-wing supporter fires off to the lovelorn Sven, the local leader of a neo-Nazi cell. Romantic comedy? You bet, but also a scathing satire that spares no one: neither baldheaded radicals who worship the swastika, nor respectable right-wingers both middle-aged and elderly, nor seemingly harmless Nazi-hipsters, nor anti-fascists with their black-and-white notions of the enemy, nor the police or media. Their darling is Sebastian Klein, an acclaimed writer of Afro-German origin, currently on a promotional tour for his new book The Coffee-Stained Nation – Everyday German Racism. How is it possible that an anti-fascist-backed intellectual suddenly goes on television to inveigh against integration? After the contemplative Stations of the Cross, acclaimed German filmmaker Dietrich Brüggemann has delivered a biting, punk-rough, yet extremely intelligent commentary on the state of contemporary German society that can easily be applied to the countries bordering the director's homeland.
Karel Och
103 min / Color, DCP
International premiere
Director Dietrich Brüggemann
/ Screenplay Dietrich Brüggemann
/ Dir. of Photography Alexander Sass
/ Music Dietrich Brüggemann
/ Editor Vincent Assmann
/ Producer Katrin Goetter, Michael Lehmann
/ Production Real Film Berlin GmbH
/ Coproduction Bella Firma, Studio Hamburg FilmProduktion GmbH, RBB, RBB/ARTE
/ Cast Benno Fürmann, Jacob Matschenz, Daniel Zillmann, Liv Lisa Fries, Jerry Hoffmann, Oliver Bröcker, Anna Brüggemann, Thelma Buabeng, Richard Kropf
/ Sales Beta Cinema GmbH
Dietrich Brüggemann (b. 1976, Munich) grew up in Germany and South Africa. He attended the Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen (HFF) Konrad Wolf in Potsdam-Babelsberg (2000-2006) where he first created shorts (Warum läuft Herr V. Amok?, 2003; Die Schwestern von Schloß Rosensteig, 2004) and then features (Neun Szenen, 2006; 3 Zimmer / Küche / Bad, 2012), which were often presented at the Berlinale: Run If You Can (Renn, wenn du kannst, 2010) opened the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section. Since 1997 he has also been interested in photography, music, and writing, and has made a name for himself creating music videos and as a pianist accompanying silent films. Stations of the Cross – for which he and his sister, actress Anna Brüggemann, accepted the Best Screenplay Silver Bear at last year’s Berlinale – was subsequently shown to appreciative audiences at KVIFF 2014.
Beta Cinema GmbH
Grünwalder Weg 28d, 820 41, Oberhaching/Munich
Germany
Phone: +49 896 734 698 828
E-mail: [email protected]
Dietrich Brüggemann
Cosima Finkbeiner
Sales Agent
Dirk Schuerhoff
Sales Agent
Benno Fürmann
Actor
Jerry Hoffmann
Actor, Film Director
Katrin Goetter
Producer
Tassilo Hallbauer
Sales Agent
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