13/07/2006

The 59th Locarno International Film Festival (August 2-12), directed for the first time by Frédéric Maire, will feature 18 German (co-)productions, including two in official competition: Prisoners and The Man From the Embassy.

Prisoners, by Scottish director Iain Dilthey (2002 Golden Leopard for The Longing), is the story of a relationship between a lonely biologist (Jule Böwe) and an escaped prisoner (Andreas Schmidt, recently seen in Summer In Berlin [+see also:
trailer
film profile]).

Produced by Tag/Traum Film- u. Videoproduktion, the film was co-produced by Austrian outfit Markus Fischer Filmproduktion (also co-producer of Angelina Maccarone’s Unveiled [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) and ZDF.

The Man From the Embassy by Georgian director Dito Tsintsadze (Silver Leopard in 1993 for On the Borderline) is also about relationships, between an attaché (Burghart Klaussner of The Edukators) and 12 year-old Saschka, for whom he feels responsible – a friendship looked upon unfavourably by most.

The Man From the Embassy was produced by Tatfilm. These two films, along with the German/Swiss production Das Fraulein (lit. “Miss”) by Andrea Staka, will be judged by a jury which this year includes German producer Peter Rommel.

Meanwhile, the competition section Cinéastes du Présent will present While You Are Here by Stefan Westerwelle and Hounded by Angelina Maccarone. Out of competition titles include BerlinBeirut by Myrna Maakaron Behnke and Weed by Fatih Akin (Mediterranean Retrospective), as well as an open-air screening in the Piazza Grande of Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s The Lives of Others [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Florian Henckel von Donners…
interview: Ulrich Muehe
film profile].

(Translated from French)