01/10/2010

Out of the 13 new releases in Germany this week, eight of the titles are European (co-)productions, and German for the most part. First up is Lars Jessen’s Hochzeitspolka (Dorfpunks [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), a co-production between German outfit Pandora and Poland. The picture centres on Frieder Schulz (Christian Ulmen) who leaves his rock group and his youth to manage a factory in Poland, where he joins the ranks of the middle class and is ready to marry the daughter of a local farmer. But this soon changes with the arrival of his rocker friends for his stag night when Frieder’s orderly present conflicts with his turbulent past. Hochzeitspolka is distributed through X Verleih.

3Rosen is releasing Burhan Qurbani ’s Shahada [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], a title which featured in competition at Berlin earlier this year (see article). This masterful and impressive graduation film, which offers a different view on the German Muslim community and integration, was produced by Bittersuess Pictures.

Zorro is offering German filmgoers a Tarantino-like intrigue set in the mountainous scenes of Tomasz Thomson’s Snowman's Land. The noirfilm production centres on a killer hired by a mafioso boss to spy on his wife while he is away. The killer soon finds himself in deep water however when she dies by accident. Drei-Freunde meanwhile is releasing Andreas ArnstedtThe Dispensables [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a Berlin arthouse picture which studies the realities of the reunified Germany whose 10-year old hero Jakob is doing all in his power to give the impression that his dysfunctional and violent family (his parents are alcoholics) is normal so he is not separated from them. The Dispensables was produced by Questionmark Entertainment.

Animated cinema also features in the line-up with The Sandman and the Lost Sand of Dreams by Sinem Sakaoglu and Jesper Moeller, co-produced by Frankfurt-based Scopas Medien and France and distributed by Falcom, in addition to an MFA retrospective of Curt Linda’s Die Konferenz der Tiere (1969), while Basis are releasing a documentary, Angela Zumpe’s Transit, a co-production by PASTE-UP (Berlin) and cine impuls (Leipzig) which with their belief in the East German project, have bucked the trend and left the West for the East.

Movienet has up its sleeve 2010 Cannes Golden Palm winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, which has German participation.

Crowing this weeks pickings is Universum’s release of French hit The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec [+see also:
trailer
film profile], directed by Luc Besson and starring Louise Bourgoin and Mathieu Amalric.