28/04/2008

The Directors’ Fortnight of the upcoming Cannes Film Festival has selected two German co-productions. The first, Liverpool by Argentinean director Lisandro Alonso, was made on the German side by the Berlin-based Black Forest Films, with Spain, the Netherlands and France.

The film tells the story of a man who only thinks about how and where he will get his next drink. Working as a labourer on an Argentinean ship, he returns after 20 years to Patagonia, the place of his childhood, to visit his mother. There he meets a new member of the family.

Also about Patagonia, is Pablo Agüero’s Salamandra, a French/German/Argentinean title, co-produced locally by Rohfilm.

In the film, six-year-old Inti is taken by his young mother Alba on a journey to a mythical valley in Patagonia, where Alba wants to start a new life. But her destination turns out to be far from mythical: she and her son end up living in the house of Dr. Schulz, crammed in with other dropouts and the man’s collection of peculiar instruments, insects and strange ideologies.

Another German title at the festival will be the opener of the Cannes Classic section, the restored print of Lola Montez. Max Ophüls’s only colour film portrays the life – in all its ups and downs – of enigmatic dancer Lola Montez, who was the great love of the Bavarian king Ludwig I, as well as a champion of women’s emancipation.