14/10/2008

Margarethe von Trotta started shooting on her new project, Visionen - Aus dem Leben der Hildegard von Bingen, on October 7 in the Maulbronn Cloister in Baden-Württemberg.

As for Rosa Luxemburg (1986) and Rosenstrasse [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2003), von Trotta single-handedly wrote the script for her latest cinematic portrait of a historic woman, after years of research. The film centres on the fascinating Hildegard von Bingen, the 12th-century visionary Benedictine nun whose writings include works on a constantly changing world which are closer to modern physics than the rigid ideas of the Middle Ages. She also wrote some principles of alternative medicine and almost 80 symphonies.

Von Bingen is played by Barbara Sukowa (Rosa Luxemburg), who stars alongside Heino Ferch (The Baader Meinhof Complex [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Alexander Held (Sophie Scholl - The Final Days [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and this year’s German Shooting Star, Hannah Herzsprung (Four Minutes [+see also:
trailer
film profile]).

The film marks the third collaboration between Volker Schlöndorff’s former wife and producer Markus Zimmer. The latter managed production on Rosenstrasse for Herbert Kloiber’s Tele-München group then, in 2005, on I Am the Other Woman [+see also:
trailer
film profile] for the group subsidiary, Clasart Film & Fernsehproduktion GmbH, who are also producing this latest film.

Distribution company Concorde – who will launch the film in autumn 2009 – are working with von Trotta for the sixth time. Visionen - Aus dem Leben der Hildegard von Bingen is co-produced by ARD/Degeto and Paris-based Celluloid Dreams. The latter are also handling international sales.

The film received backing from the DFFF, the FFA and regional funds Filmstiftung NRW (North Rhine-Westphalia), FFF Bayern (Bavaria) and Hessen Invest. Shooting will continue in the MMC Studios in Cologne, the Eberbach Cloister (Hessen) and the Munich area, wrapping up in early December.

(Translated from French)