Six German films in Sundance
by German Films
Six German (co-)productions have been invited to the Sundance Film Festival (17-27.01.2008). The festival is regarded as the most important event in the American independent film scene and has been one of the most renowned film festivals worldwide for more than 25 years.
The World Cinema Dramatic Competition will feature the world premiere of Absurdistan [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Veit Helmer, who was presented with the "Sundance NHK filmmakers award" two years ago. With the support of this respected prize for promising international filmmakers, he worked with his authors Gordan Michic and Zaza Buadze on the realisation of the romantic comedy about two young lovers during the war in Azerbaijan.
There will also be the world premiere of The Wave [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Dennis Gansel, who wrote the screenplay with Peter Thorwarth. The story of a pedagogical experiment on fascism is based on the original records of the American history teacher William Ron Jones. The novel of the same name by Morton Rhues is one of the classics of youth literature.
The German co-production The Drummer (Hong Kong/Taiwan/Germany) by Kenneth Bi, which celebrated its world premiere on the Piazza Grande in Locarno, has also been invited to screen in the competition.
The World Cinema Documentary Competition will be showing the intense documentary Alone in Four Walls (Allein in vier Waenden) by Alexandra Westmeier as a North American premiere. The film portrays the fate of 120 youth offenders in a Russian home.
Jan Schuette's Love Comes Lately (Germany/Austria) has been invited to the sidebar entitled Spectrum. Jan Schuette himself penned the screenplay for his film which is based on short stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer. This section will also show Otto; or up With Dead People (Germany/Canada) by the screenwriter and director Bruce LaBruce.
New from this year: in order to draw more attention to international screenwriters, cinematographers and editors, the films presented in the World Cinema competitions are not only eligible for the respective jury prizes, but can also be recognised for Best Direction, Best Editing, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography.
The short film program will be announced on December 5.
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