18/08/2006

This week, the young but prolific Hamburg-born director Sven Taddicken offers German and Austrian audiences a screen adaptation of a Claudia Schreiber novel entitled Emma’s Bliss.

The feature, which won Jördis Triebel the Best Actress Award at this year's Munich Film Festival, tells the story of Emma, a pig breeder whose only company is her motorbike, and Max, a cancer sufferer hungry to escape who crashes his Jaguar on Emma’s farm.

Produced by Wüste Filmproduktion (Head On) and Wüste Film West, who have already worked together in Kebab Connection, Emma’s Bliss also marks the end of a summer dominated by the onscreen presence of Jürgen Vogel. Vogel also stars in next week’s biggest German release, the Berlin title The Free Will by Matthias Glasner.

Emma’s Bliss is being distributed by Pandora in Germany and Polyfilm in Austria.

Also opening on German and Austrian screens this week is The Giraffe’s Neck, an impulsive French/Belgian road-movie by Safy Nebbou, which depicts a nine year-old girl in search of her grandparents. The film is being brought to screens by German distributor Schwarz-Weiss and its Austrian sister company Filmladen.

Other important releases in Austria include the already renowned German title The Lives of Others [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Florian Henckel von Donners…
interview: Ulrich Muehe
film profile] by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (distr. Buena Vista).

Meanwhile, the several domestic titles to open on German screens include experimental film Trip by Frank Otto and Bernt Kohler-Adams (distr. 3Rosen); grotesque comedy Like in Uruguay by Rainer Knepperges and Christian Mrasek (distr. Rif Film); documentary Für immer und dich – Ein Abend in Erinnerung an Rio Reiser (lit. “Forever and You – An Evening in Memory of Rio Reiser") by Elser Maxwell (distr. Salzgeber); German/UK co-production The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes by the Quay brothers (distr. Piffl); and a remake of Hundred Years of Brecht (1997) by Ottokar Runze (distr. Basis).

(Translated from French)