27/02/2009

Domestic productions take pride of place among the new releases hitting German theatres this week.

Leading the contingent is UK director Stephen Daldry’s German/US co-production The Reader [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which recently won an Oscar following its success at the Golden Globes. The much-awaited film – which stars UK actress Kate Winslet and German Shooting Star 2009 David Kross (see interview) – is being launched by Senator.

German audiences will also be flocking to see the crime farce Mord ist mein Geschäft, Liebling [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Sebastian Niemann (Hui Buh: The Goofy Ghost [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), which is produced by Munich-based Rat Pack and distributed by Warner. Popular comic actor Rick Kavanian plays a contract killer who ends up meeting his soulmate (Nora Tschirner). In order to win her heart, he has to pass himself off as the mafioso he has just murdered, with all the risks that entails. The film also stars Christian Tramitz.

Timebandits are releasing Thomas Wendrich’s drama Maria am Wasser [+see also:
trailer
film profile], in which a young provincial pretends to be the survivor of a terrible accident.

Meanwhile, Andreas Stiglmayr is releasing – through his company Stiglmayrfilm – the documentary Menschen, Träume, Taten, about a community founded ten years ago 150km from Berlin.

The only new title representing another European country is Pascal-Alex Vincent’s French/German co-production Give Me Your Hand [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which follows two twin brothers on their journey across France (distributed by Salzgeber).

(Translated from French)