02/05/2014 - Writer/director Veit Helmer is handling theatrical world sales for the live-action adventure

The colourful children's adventure Fiddlesticks [+see also:
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film profile] by writer/director Veit Helmer (Tuvalu, Baikonur [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) will open the “New German Films” section at the Marché du Film of the Cannes Festival on Friday 16 May. “My film is a classic live-action adventure for young and older children between the ages of four and 144,” says the filmmaker, who grew up with the Little Rascals by Hal Roach and the adventures of Pippi Longstocking. “Nowadays, the majority of movies for young children are animated films. I wanted to do something different.” In fact, Helmer would like children to question authority. “It is important that kids have a healthy suspicion because adults are not always in the right.”

Fiddlesticks takes place in a small, ordinary town somewhere in Europe, a place that is so mediocre that it has become the stronghold for all kinds of market research. The consequence of this is that old people are put in nursing homes in order to keep down the average age of the inhabitants. But the children don't want to be used as guinea pigs and decide to take action. “They put the adults to sleep and release their grandparents, who are all very creative people, like inventors or arctic explorers,” explains the filmmaker. Their best ally is a coati that can hammer, drill and even steal sleeping pills.

“The maxim 'never film with children or animals' is no longer true in the age of digital filmmaking,” states the director. “I shot Fiddlesticks with the RED Epic and let the camera run even during the rehearsal so that I wouldn't miss the best moments. We filmed every shot with two cameras so that we always got distance shots and close-ups.”

Fiddlesticks, which will also open the renowned German children's film festival Golden Sparrow, has been selected for numerous festivals, including Zlín in the Czech Republic and Munich. Helmer himself is handling world sales for the theatrical rights and Claudia Schmitt at Beta Film the TV sales. The action-adventure will be released in Germany by Farbfilm Verleih in the autumn.

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