email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

VENICE 2014 Germany

The Council of Birds selected for the Critics' Week in Venice

by 

- Timm Kröger’s film is representing Germany at the 29th Venice International Film Critics’ Week

The Council of Birds selected for the Critics' Week in Venice
The Council of Birds by Timm Kröger

The Council of Birds (original title Zerrumpelt Herz), by Timm Kröger, will have its world premiere in competition at the 29th International Film Critics’ Week, the independent sidebar of the Venice Film Festival (27 August – 6 September). Also competing is the German co-production Flapping in the Middle of Nowhere by Nguyễn Hoàng Điệp (Vietnam/France/Norway/Filmallee in Germany), which was supported by the Berlinale's World Cinema Fund.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

The Council of Birds, Kröger’s first feature (and his graduation film from the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg), is set in 1929 and tells the story of music teacher Paul Leinert. When he receives an unexpected letter from an old friend, a composer who has hidden himself away from the world after an unhappy end to his marriage and lives alone in a forest cabin, he decides to go and spend his holidays there with his wife and a colleague. But when the trio get there, the host has disappeared, his cabin is deserted, and the forest is full of strange noises...

The young director (Kröger was born in 1985) is very pleased to have been invited to show his film at Venice: “We have been completely overwhelmed and taken by surprise, in the best sense of the word, and we are looking forward to a great festival launch for our strange film – I'm saying this on behalf of all those who went to the muddy forest with me to make this film.”

The programme of the International Film Critics’ Week includes seven debut feature films by directors from all over the world, plus two special events. They are competing for the RaroVideo Audience Award, as well as the Lion of the Future - Luigi De Laurentiis Prize, which comes with $100,000 in cash and is awarded to a debut from any section of the festival.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy