An unusually high number of filmmakers were drawn to the water during the anniversary year. Whether river, lake or sea, the wet element served them as a stage: Lars Jessen – a confirmed Schleswig-Holsteinian – travelled to the Mediterranean to create the myth of FRAKTUS, the first ever techno band, in collaboration with Studio Braun, icons of warped North German humour. In LIFE IS NOT FOR COWARDS, the teenage Kim flees from family issues to the Danish North Sea coast, while wintertime Sylt provides the perfect setting for extreme emotions in WESTERLAND. Hermine Huntgeburth tears down the facades of the quaint life behind the Elbe dyke in YOU SCRATCH MY BACK, I’LL SCRATCH YOURS, and the Elbe also plays a key role in the fourth Siegfried Lenz adaptation ARNE’S HERITAGE, starring Jan Fedder. In the aftermath of World War II, a number of single women from Lübeck landed on the icy coast of Iceland, which they give humorous, albeit melancholy accounts of, 60 years later in the documentary film HOME IN THE ICE. The short film programme ALL WATER presents very different films that would all be unthinkable without rivers or seas. But of course there are also entirely “dry” productions, such as Jan Georg Schütte’s family psychograph Kill Him!, the romantic spy thriller The Spy by Miguel Alexandre, and the independently financed film CLAPPER COWBOY!, in which two filmmakers from the provinces provide a wonderfully trashy image of the urban way of life in Germany’s capital. At the same time, filmmakers are also bringing documentary films home to Lübeck from all across the globe, including Rwanda and China (Apple Stories), Brazil (Poets of the People), Estonia (Fish & Onion), Bangladesh, Mongolia and Somalia (Hungry Minds) and South Africa (White Blood). Once more there is plenty to discover!
What began in 1988 as Filmforum Schleswig-Holstein, within a very small framework at the Capitol in Lübeck, is today, in 2012, an integral part of Nordic Film Days Lübeck. Filmmaking between the two seas has thrived, not least thanks to the long-standing support of Filmwerkstatt Kiel and Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein (FFHSH). Filmmakers connected to Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg have been presenting their latest productions in Lübeck throughout the past 25 years. Lars Jessen, Detlev Buck, Miguel Alexandre, Lars Büchel and Fatih Akin are amongst the famous directors whose work regularly features at the Filmforum.
In order to celebrate the major and minor successes and to discuss the developments of northern filmmaking, the Filmforum at 54. Nordic Film Days Lübeck (31.10. – 04.11.12) is hosting the “FF 25” events, which begin on the evening of Friday, 2. November 2012.
Paralleling the events, an extensive, beautifully illustrated anniversary brochure on the topic of “Heimat” (lit. “home/homeland”) has been published, curated by Petra Schlie. The booklet contains an interview with Detlef Buck as well as very entertaining and often personal essays by the players and promoters of Nordic cinema, and is available for 3 euros in the festival cinemas and at selected selling points throughout the 54. Nordic Film Days Lübeck.
The Filmforum 2012 events:
FF 25: Talk and moving images from 25 years of Filmforum
Fri, 2.11.12, 7.30pm
Koki Lübeck, Mengstr. 35
Guests:
Jana Marsik, camerawoman, e.g. for Detlev Buck and Lars Büchel
Lars Jessen, director, e.g. of DORFPUNKS and most recently FRAKTUS
Bernd-Günther Nahm, head of Filmwerkstatt Kiel of FFHSH
Presentation: Peter Dirmeier
FF 25: The party
Fri, 2.11.12, 8pm: rec.n roll – Lübeck Videoslam – 5-minute films of all genres: short stories, trash, experimental films & animation.
10pm: actor and jury member Jonas Nay with in concert his Lübeck-based band “Concerted”.
Schuppen 6, An der Untertrave
Film fans and friends of the festival celebrate with actors, directors and festival guests from the High North.
Please find information on the 54. Nordic Film Days Lübeck and the Filmforum programme at:
www.filmtage.luebeck.de
http://twitter.com/nordicfilmdays
http://www.facebook.com/nordicfilmdays
Contact:
Silke Lehmann
Robin Schmeck
Charlotte Gondolf
Press and publicity
Nordic Film Days Lübeck
Schildstr. 12, 23539 Lübeck, Germany
T: +49 451 122 1455
F: +49 451 122 1799
presse@filmtage.luebeck.de
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