The Filmforum programme at the 55. Nordic Film Days Lübeck covers a large spectrum from personal identity quests in distant countries to current political issues to sensitive and amusing stories from the North.

Lübeck, 10. October 2013 – In the 26. year of the “Filmforum” at the 55. Nordic Film Days Lübeck (30.10.-03.11.13) the selected filmmakers have chosen topics that are both close to home as well as highly international. They have embarked on quests far away from Northern Germany, have explored distant countries and cultures, and have created a colourful, varied palette of films. This mixture of keenly observed individual tales and moving fates in distant countries form the basis for this year’s film programme. “The selection shows that the documentary filmmakers are very much in step with the times – and how feature film directors, too, are inspired by reality. They convey attitudes towards life, reflect everyday lives or transform very personal stories and allures into contributions of multilateral interest,” says Doris Bandhold, Head of the Filmforum.

“Banklady” is set in 1960s Germany and tells the gripping tale of Germany’s first female bank robber, Gisela Werler, played by Nadeshda Brennicke, who is presenting her film in person at the festival. In the adventure comedy “Sputnik”, the ten-year-old Rike and her friends work on an invention in 1989 provincial Brandenburg. Director Markus Dietrich, a member of this year’s Children’s and Youth Film jury, is also presenting his film in person. “Nothing Bad Can happen” by Katrin Gebbe is set in the present and was the only German contribution to make it into this year’s Competition at the Cannes International Film Festival.  It tells the tale of a self-appointed “warrior of Jesus”, who chooses a life devoid of violence and promiscuity, but gets drawn into a maelstrom of escalating violence. The amusing film “Spiced up Jack” by director Buket Alakus is set in Hamburg, starring Idil Üner and Max von Thun - after the bestselling novel by Atice Akyün. The director and stars will be on location at the festival. The film is shown at NFL with an audio description in cooperation with Blindenverein SH and NDR.  

Florian Eichinger is once again represented at the Filmforum with “Northbeach”, the second part of his trilogy about domestic violence; the brothers Marten and Volker attempt to put the past behind them at their abandoned parental home by the North Sea. Guerilla filmmaker Henrik Peschel (“Rollo-Aller!”) has made his first quiet film, “Si-o-se Pol”, in which he tells a sensitive tale of friendship and empathy. The obligatory, latest fairy tale adaptation by Christian Theede from Flensburg, “The Fisherman and His Wife”, is also presented by the director in person. It stars Fabian Busch and Katharina Schüttler. Sven Halfar’s implacable cinema debut “DeAD” looks behind the facades of middle-class illusory worlds.

This year’s selected documentary films treat topics such as asylum-seeking musicians in “Can’t Be Silent” by Julia Oelkers. She accompanies the tour of “Strom & Wasser feat. The Refugees” by Heinz Ratz, who discovered 80 German asylum seekers to be great musicians whom he helps re-attain a voice. “Ciao Cello” by Hannes Treiber is also a musical film, in which young cellists enthrall their audience at a competition. The film’s screening on 1. November will be ensued by a live performance by one of the protagonists. “The Case Böhme – The Wondrous Life of Wolfgang Böhme” deals with the GDR past. A profound sports portrait of the former national handball player Wolfgang Böhme, who is suddenly discharged in 1980. Once again director Jürgen Hobrecht (“The Martyrs of Lübeck”, NFL 2010) shows a moving documentary film: “We Lived to See it – The Ghetto in Riga” required years of research, its funding partners including Possehl-Stiftung and Gemeinnützige Sparkassenstiftung Lübeck. Martina Fluck (“Theodor Storm – Come What May Come!”) has dedicated her new film to the historic figure of Friedrich Hebbel. On the occasion of his 200. birthday, she creates a cinematic monument with “Friedrich Hebbel – Dream Images”. The Danish philosopher Kierkegaard is also the subject of a docudrama:  “Kierkegaard – Dangerous Thoughts” by Wilfried Hauke. His 200. birthday is also due this year. Michael Trabitzsch from Neumünster has made the artist portrait “Max Beckmann – The Painter”.

Director Bernhard Hetzenauer is drawn to a distant country in “And There Was Fire in the Center of the Earth”, and is fuelled by his own family history as he portrays an almost 100-year-old psychologist who fled from the Nazis to Ecuador in 1939. Also set in Ecuador, “Cesar’s Grill” by Dario Aguirre is a very personal portrait by a vegetarian filmmaker about his grilled meat enthusiast father. His work on the film prevented Aguirre from presenting his previous film in person at the 2010 Film Days in Lübeck. Thomas Böltken’s documentary film “Nana Benz” was shot in Togo, Africa, and recounts the history of the legendary queens of the West-African fabrics trade. These business-ladies were the first Mercedes drivers on the West-African coast. Rasmus Gerlach examines the fates of African refugees in a Hamburg church in the film “Lampedusa in St. Pauli” (previously in Lübeck with “Apple Stories” in 2012). Enea and hid friends travel from Italy to Luneburg in the loving and heart-warming documentary film “The Special Need” by Carlo Zoratti, which received standing ovations at the festival in Locarno. No less impressive than the human protagonists of the above films is Krista, a Holstein cow, who is freshly bathed, dried and styled as she is elected Germany’s most beautiful cow. Presented by Antje Schneider and Carsten Waldbauer in their documentary film “Beautiful Krista”. 

Altogether 15 short films are competing in the Filmforum for the 2013 CineStar Prize, endowed with 3,000 euros. This year’s jury consists of Sylke Gottlebe (member of the board at “German Films” and long-standing director of Bundesverband Deutscher Kurzfilm), Hartmut Lange (actor, Lübeck) and Söhnke Boye (Freundeskreis NFL), and presents the award at the Film Prize Night on 2. November. “Tumbling Birds” stars a young woman from Lübeck, and director Britt Dunse, also from Lübeck, has made “Little Red Riding Hood, Dachshund and the Wolf”, a wonderful adaptation of the classic fairy tale for both the hearing and the hard of hearing. Director Florian Sailer also originates from Lübeck and presents “Comeback to Go” at the festival.

Further preview highlights with audio descriptions at the Film Days in Lübeck include the latest “Crime Scene Cleaner – Loved Ones”, which stars an excellent Florian Lukas as Fanny Fee alongside Bjarne “Schotty” Mädel. Also “Alarm 110: Love Delirium” starring Charly Hübner and Anneke Kim Sarnau as a well-established investigating team. These films were also made in cooperation with Blindenverein Schleswig-Holstein and NDR. 

Please find all programme details and screening times online at the festival homepage as of 19. October 2013.

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