20/10/2006

After its screening at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, and in Toronto, Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Warsaw, Vienna and Paris, Summer'04 [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Stefan Krohmer has finally opened in German cinemas through Alamode Film (24 screens).

Produced by Katrin Schlösser for Berlin-based outfit Ö Film, the film is the story of two parents, their son and his girlfriend, Livia, who go on a sailing holiday together.

Livia very quickly forms a suspicious friendship with a 30 year-old half-American with a convertible (Robert Seeliger), witnessed by the son’s mother Miriam (Martina Gedeck).

Between the young 12 year-old ‘Lolita’ (perfectly played by Svea Lohde, the gem of the cast) and seaside meetings between holidaymakers, Krohmer deals here in his own way with very Rohmeresque themes, the main difference being that the characters never verbalise their games of desire and seduction that determine the story’s progression.

Krohmer does not place the emphasis on the seducer but on the silent rivalry between the teenager and the mother, and the way in which this parasitic competition allows Miriam to protect Livia.

Our only hope is that this fine feature by Krohmer (They've Got Knut, 2003) – also starring Peter Davor as the father – will find distributors in Europe and elsewhere. International sales are being handled by Bavaria Film International.

Aside from four US titles and one Turkish release, this week’s programme includes other new European films: the German documentary on Georgia Wie luft zum Atmen by Ruth Olshan (distr. Salzgeber & Co. Medien ); a series of shorts, Night of the Shorts – Die letzten Tage (distr. W-Film); and French film Zaïna, cavalière de l'Atlas by Bourlem Guerdjou, an oriental tale that won the Audience Award at the 2005 Locarno Film Festival (dist. Prokino Filmverleih).

(Translated from French)