This year, there are two movies representing northern Germany at the Cannes Film Festival: Margarethe von Trotta's homage 'Searching for Ingmar Bergman' will have its world premiere in the "Cannes Classics" category; and animated movie 'Another Day of Life' will be playing out of competition. Both movies are backed by Hamburg production houses.
Maria Köpf, Managing Director of Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein:
"Congratulations to Margarethe von Trotta and Hamburg's C-Films team, with producer Benjamin Seikel and executive producer Konstanze Speidel! In 'Searching for Ingmar Bergman' the excellent Margarethe von Trotta makes a declaration of love to one of the most important film makers of all time. We are delighted that we were able to support her search from the development phases through to production."
As announced by the festival on Thursday, animated movie 'Another Day of Life' will run as part of the official Cannes program. "We are very proud that the animated movie, 'Another Day of Life' is representing the Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein movie region, and we send our congratulations to the teams from Wüste Film and Animationsfabrik. The invitation to Cannes shows that Hamburg is and remains an animation stronghold. The docudrama about the Angolan civil war from the point of view of a war reporter is proof of the wide artistic spectrum that animation has to offer," says Köpf.
More about the films:
In 1977, Ingmar Bergman and Margarethe von Trotta met in person in Munich. Both came to a pivotal moment in their lives: Bergman was at a turning point after dodging taxes in Sweden, von Trotta was at the beginning of her career as a young movie maker. Now, 40 years and 24 of her own movies later, she dedicates herself to Bergman in a cinematic search for information. She demonstrates the great respect that she still has for her master as she closes in on him. Nevertheless, in Searching for Ingmar Bergman, the movie maker goes on a very personal journey through the Bergman universe, his films, his life. The movie was produced by C-Films (Germany). Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein supported the movie with 100,000 euros for project development and production.
Animated movie Another Day of Life from Raúl de la Fuente and Damian Nenow will celebrate its world premiere in Cannes as part of the Official Selection Out of Competition – Special Screening. The film tells the thrilling tale of famous Polish reporter Ryszard Kapuściński's three-month-long trip through war-torn Angola. In 'Another Day of Life', the directors cleverly interweave animation and documentary images. The movie is a production from Platige Films (Poland) and Kanaki Films (Spain), with Walking the Dog (Belgium) and Hamburg companies Wüste Film and Animationsfabrik contributing as co-producers. Production took place in cooperation with NDR/ARTE, and Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein provided support in the form of 350,000 euros, with Pandora Film taking responsibility for rental.
Photo: Margarethe von Trotta (Copyright: Börres Weiffenbach)