Review 2017
The new feature film by renowned German director Matti Geschonneck, IN TIMES OF FADING LIGHT, will open the 27th FILMKUNSTFEST MV on May 2, 2017. It is the film adaption of the award-winning same-named bestseller about the writer Eugen Ruge, born in Oblast Swerdlowsk, the USSR, in 1954.
Over the course of four generations, the complex novel tells the epochal story of a family which falls apart in its own way during the final days of the East German regime. The literary version has been adapted for the silver screen by the legendary scriptwriter Wolfgang Kohlhaase, winner of the FILMKUNSTFEST MV’s “Golden-Ox” in 2015. A further recipient of the honorary award by the FILMKUNSTFEST MV stars in the main role as the stubborn family patriarch: Bruno Ganz received the “Golden-Ox” in 2006 and has been nominated for the German Film Award 2017 for the role of Wilhelm Powileit, whose 90th birthday coincides with the final days of East Germany.
Three musicians from the guest country of this year’s FILMKUNSTFEST MV, Denmark, will be providing an atmospheric, musical setting for the opening ceremony. Morten Wittrock, Jes Holtsø and John Chipman play top-class blues rock. Jes Holtsø achieved fame in the role of Bø rge in the “Olsen Gang” films. The former child actor is now a welcome guest at Northern European blues rock festivals. Holtsø and the Morten-Wittrock-Band gave their first concert in Germany at the “Nordischer Klang” festival in Greifswald.
Frank Breuner from NDR (Norddeutsche Rundfunk) will be the host of the evening - replacing Knut Elsterman, who became ill and had to cancel the event.
An overview of the films that took part in the 2017 competitions can be found here.
Composer and musician Michael Riessler and Corinna Fuhrman accompanied HAMLET, with actress Asta Nielsen, with bass clarinet and synthesizer. More information about this film concert is available here.
GUEST COUNTRY DENMARK
Measured against its population of almost 5.8 million inhabitants, the Kingdom of Denmark is one of the most successful film nations in the world. For several years, namely between 1909 and 1916, the Danish production company "Nordisk Film" even dominated the world market, producing over 100 silent films annually, until the studios in Babelsberg and Hollywood knocked it off its top spot. Copenhagen's "Nordisk Film" with its characteristic signet - a polar bear atop a globe- is still active today, as the oldest existing film production company. It experienced a second heyday during the 1950s, when the legendary Erik Balling directed many great films there, including those with the Olsen gang, and ultimately took over the management of the studio. An effective, public film promotion system and a brilliant production and marketing strategy such as DOGMA 95 by Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg brought about a lot of artistic and commercial success both at home and abroad.
Denmark is the featured guest country at the FILMKUNSTFEST MV for the very first time. The films featuring the Olsen gang, particularly popular amongst East German audiences, are obvious choices, with four examples chosen by the readers of the Schweriner Volkszeitung being screened. Naturally, the current world of film-making is represented inall its facets in our programme.
Today's Danish cinema easily transforms historical as well as brandnewsocial topics into exciting dramas for the silver screen. In case of LAND OF MINE, it has even triggered a societal discussion. What else could people expect from cinema?
More informations about the Focus Denmark are available here.
The film characters of the Olsen gang are considered a national cultural asset in Denmark. The Danish trio of crooks who, in a series of 14 films, tried their hands at scoring a big coup, also enjoyed great popularity in former Eastern Germany.
As an export hit from the West, the gang of Egon, Benny and Kjeld made a permanent impression on the East German media landscape which continues today, due in small part to the legendary DEFA dubbing.
“The Olsen gang” exhibition being shown during the 27th FILMKUNSTFESTs MV in the Schleswig-Holstein-Haus documents the series of the same-titled Danish films which comprised 14 detective comedies filmed between 1968 and 1998. In addition to numerous photographs by Rolf Konow, the Danish film posters of all 14 films are on show, as are those posters designed by renowned illustrators in East Germany. The largest exhibit by far is the Chevrolet Bel Air, an American car from the 1950s used by the Olsen gang in many of their coup attempts.
More impressions are available here.
Find out more about the Gustav Peter Wöhler Band here.
The popular short film night will be shown as always in the "Speicher", Schwerin. The program will consist of several blocks with four or five films in a row. The audience judges about the best film. Host of the evening is Christoph Gagzow. This year's live act is the rockband Y [WAI].
Impressions can be found here.
