L uftbusiness - Festival del film Locarno

Luftbusiness
A film by Dominique de Rivaz
A Swiss-Luxemburg coproduction
CAB Productions – IRIS Productions
Pressbook
CAB Productions
Av. du Grey 123 - CH 1018 Lausanne
T. +41 21 641 04 80 – F. +41 021 641 04 89
[email protected]
www.cabproductions.ch
IRIS Productions
45, bd Pierre Frieden – Bâtiment KB2, bureau 295
L 1543 Luxembourg
T. +352 44 70 70 46 94 – F. +352 44 70 70 46 98
[email protected] - www.irisproductions.lu
Media Luna Entertainment GmbH & Co
Aachenerstr. 26 – D 50674 Cologne
T. +49 221 801 498 0 F. +49 221 801 498 21
[email protected]
www.medialuna-entertainment.de
“Is it really a question of believing or not believing in the soul?
Has it not always been a question of thinking of it to see what would come of it?
Knowing whether the soul is an experience or a hypothesis
is rather irrelevant as long as we haven’t started thinking
in order to realise that it forces us to think differently.”
Elie During
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Summary
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Pitch & synopsis
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Soul for sale
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« Superb losers», Director's note by Dominique de Rivaz
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« Fiction pushing the limit of the game»
An encounter with Antoine Jaccoud and Dominique de Rivaz, the screenwriters
by Fred Zaugg, critic
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« Far from the heart of satisfied cities», the film's universe by Stéphane Lévy
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The protagonists
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« I had been the owner of a Crystal palace», by Tómas Lemarquis, Filou
« A poetic, but brutal interpellation», by Dominique Jann, Moritz
« My hen was an actress in her former life», by Joel Basman, Liocha
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Cast & Credits
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Bio-filmographies
Dominique de Rivaz, director
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Tómas Lemarquis, actor
Dominique Jann, actor
Joel Basman, actor
André Jung, actor
Claude De Demo, actress
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Séverine Barde, director of photography
Stéphane Lévy, art director
Antoine Jaccoud, screenwriter
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Biography of The Tiger Lillies
Lyrics
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CAB Productions, producer
IRIS Productions, producer
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Pitch
Looking for easy money, three young dropouts auction themselves on the
internet. One sells his future, one sells his past. The third sells his soul. What
starts off as an unlikely trick turns into a nightmare when they discover they've
sold their very existences. And there are no refunds…
Synopsis
In Hamlin, an imaginary German city, three young outcasts squat an abandoned
greenhouse. To avoid the hazards of poverty, they have taken on survival jobs:
Moritz lends his body to the pharmaceutical industry, Liocha sells his sperm and
Filou walks the dogs of the rich. One day, when Filou takes the dog Google back
to the Internet Café, he has an idea: since everything can be sold on Internet
auction sites, including clouds, why not sell oneself? The three likeable schemers
offer to the highest bidder that which they deem no longer necessary: the Russian
boy Liocha sells his childhood memories, eternally provocative Moritz sells his
remaining years and Filou, the dreamer of the trio, sells his soul. What was meant
as a game turns sour when Lila, the pretty employee of Money Logistics, brings
them money at the greenhouse. All three of them make the bitter experience that it
is better never to get rid of the small things in life. While the bids are soaring,
between virtual wealth and genuine poverty, Filou is caught in his own trap and
cuts himself off more and more from everybody and everything, feeling
increasingly estranged with the world and himself.
4
Soul for sale
Soul sold for less than £ 12
A graduate, Gareth M., 26-year-old, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne (GB),
posted an advert on the eBay site. His soul was bought by a man from
Oklahoma (US) for £11.61.
BBC News, June 18th. 2002
Âme à vendre pour $ 400
Adam B., un étudiant de l’État de Washington (Etats-Unis) de vingt ans
a vendu son âme aux enchères sur le site Internet eBay, tout en
reconnaissant que la livraison serait difficile. Les enchères,
commencées à 5 cents, ont atteint 400 dollars.
Le Monde, 2 mars 2002
Arbeitsloser im Internet ab 1 EUR zu ersteigern
Bernd L. bietet sich bei eBay selbst an. Ein 38 Jahre alter, arbeitsloser
Berliner hat sich selbst auf dem Internetmarkt zum Verkauf angeboten.
Angebote hat Bernd L. bislang noch nicht erhalten.
Berliner Morgenpost, 21. Januar 2004
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Superb losers
Director's note by Dominique de Rivaz
To begin with, there was a short news item in “Le Monde”: a young American had just sold his
soul on ebay. A British student followed suit. Neither of the two young men claimed Faust
(exchanging one's soul against knowledge, power, beauty, and immortality). It was purely and
simply a provocative gesture. The amount they received was trivial: the equivalent of a few
hamburgers. Nonetheless, the ebay authorities intervened, prohibiting this kind of transaction
labelled as “immoral”.
This news item perplexed me profoundly. Apart from its social aspects, two questions were
nagging at me: What is a soul in the 21st century? How does an individual, who sells his soul,
survive after the transaction? Selling one’s soul, whatever the definition, implies submission to
the surrounding world, to the others, to oneself. How does this change the individual, his
behaviour and, hence, his future? And does one have the right, in Sloterdijk’s* words, “to
experiment with one's self without restriction”?
This is what Luftbusiness attempts to imagine very freely. The screenplay, co-written with
Antoine Jaccoud, was devised as a modern parable. Its intentionally stylised treatment evokes a
contemporary world with slightly exaggerated features here and there. I situated this urban space
in a German city of today, but in a city rocked by a poetic wind from Latin-America, Tajikistan
or Georgia, countries whose so-called “cinematography of the South” forms the root of my film
training.
My Name is Bach (Swiss Film Award 2004), my first feature, portrayed an imaginary baroque
setting in the 18th century and two kings, the king of music and the king of Prussia. I conceived
a rather unusual mess at the king's court, a deliberately coarse and obvious photography, overthe-shoulder shots always at the level of the protagonists, instead of glorifying historic
monuments. Luftbusiness is situated in an imaginary German town in the near future, a fiction of
life on the fringe of society. It stages three young men who are outcasts and victims of the new
poverty. It stages a city which eats its children.
The photography is by Séverine Barde (J’ai toujours voulu être une sainte, La Vraie vie est
ailleurs, Bruno Manser - Laki Penan…). We used S-16mm film, just like I did in My Name is
Bach, but more serenely this time. Together with Severine, we explored the possibilities and the
limits of transparent settings, the greenhouse, the city of glass, the mirrors... This was our
aesthetic choice to try and evoke the invisible.
The film was shot in Luxembourg in all-natural surroundings. A real feat in this small country
where the traces of precariousness and its great metallurgic past are literally erased by the hour.
Stéphane Lévy was the artistic director of the film. Her design provides the background of the
playful and virtual, but also tragically real universe of Filou, Mo and Liocha: an abandoned
greenhouse where the sky and the earth meet, the glass towers of a cold and inhuman city and
the Depot, the morgue of the homeless, a place closed on itself but also, paradoxically, open to
the others. The greenhouse plays the pivotal role in the film. It is a place where, cleanliness
being optional, ordinary elements can grow, where Filou, Mo and Liocha, notwithstanding this
world in which sharing is an unknown commodity, can attempt to grow roots.
Tómas Lemarquis (French-Icelandic actor, starring in the successful Icelandic movie Noï Albinoï,
Shooting Star 2004 in Iceland), incarnates Filou. Tómas, who had just finished the shooting of La
Maison de Nina, in his role as Gustav, was suggested to me by Stéphane Lévy. He brought an
Icelandic aura of mystery to the film: the restraint and the beauty of a young man from
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"elsewhere". He became Filou on the spot. No other actor was cast for this role. A Filou with a
particular physical appearance, so little protected from the world and hence so intensely in
touch with it. Tómas Lemarquis portrays a Filou in whom extremes brush against one another,
just like the sky and the earth in the greenhouse, his abode.
Moritz, aka Mo, is the counterpoint to Filou’s ethereal character. Mo, the life and soul of the trio,
the death-dodger clown because he is tragically disillusioned, is played by Swiss actor
Dominique Jann. Throughout the film, Mo moves with great ease like a tightrope walker (he
learnt acrobatics) on the invisible and fragile rope that separates the tragedy from the comedy.
And then there is Liocha, a Russian, barely 17-year-old street urchin, exactly the age of Joel
Basman, who brings him alive. Joel is one of the youngest Swiss actor today. An infallible acting
instinct, an innate sense of the melody of languages, an ever-present freshness... Tarkovsky
wouldn't have turned him down, neither for Ivan’s childhood nor for the role of the young bell
founder in Andrei Rublev**.
Filou, Mo, Liocha... Three friends, three symbols, three angels? Friends a lot, angels a little.
Because at the end of the film they are messengers, angeloi in Greek, who bring us news of the
state of the world.
Luftbusiness is a contemporary fable staging a world in which the imagination opposes the real
with the virtual, in order to speak about the meaning of life. Spectators are summoned to the
bed of a young man who is an outcast and who has sold his soul. Let’s hope that thanks to him,
they will cast a fresh and stimulating glance at the world.
* Peter Sloterdijk, German philosopher, Selbstversuch. Ein Gespräch mit Carlos Oliveira. Carl Hanser Verlag, 1996
** Andrei Rublev, monk and icon painter of the 15th century. His most famous icon is the Icon of the Trinity. His life inspired Russian
director Andrei Tarkovsky’s film about him in 1966.
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Fiction pushing the limit of the game
An encounter with Antoine Jaccoud and Dominique de Rivaz, the screenwriters
by Fred Zaugg, critic
The marginal group that is almost a part of the scenery seems to have been piled into the corners of
the city buildings like the Fat Corners by Joseph Beuys: Filou and his friends Moritz and Liocha act in
a lively and mutually supportive way on the stage of new poverty.
Dominique de Rivaz’s film Luftbusiness (Life for Sale) is set between a costly architecture made of
glass, steel and concrete and cardboard igloos. We move between demonstrated wealth and real
poverty, between fictitious business and the real sale of oneself to the highest bidder. The story
culminates in the sale of a soul.
It was an announcement in the French daily Le Monde, in the section “News in brief”, a small note
under the heading “Accidents and Crimes”, which set it all off. For Dominique de Rivaz it is still
almost alarming how suddenly and ineradicably the film Luftbusiness (Life for Sale) took shape in
her mind.
“It said that an American sold his soul at an ebay auction. I was thunderstruck,” Dominique de Rivaz
recalls. “It said that the highest bid for the human soul barely exceeded the price of a few
hamburgers. It was preposterous. I was obsessed with this story: my inner eye saw it as a film
although I was still busy working on my first full-length feature Mein Name ist Bach (Jagged
Harmonies). Incidentally, ebay management has disqualified such offers as immoral since. But it
stuck in my mind. The “immoral” signal in the newspaper became a vision, an image of
contemporary human beings drifting towards the unreal. I had at least ten rough drafts for a
screenplay when I let Antoine Jaccoud in on my project and asked him to co-author the screenplay.”
“I can’t remember exactly how many scripts, sketches and notes Dominique de Rivaz had compiled,
but it was tons of material. The film idea developed very quickly on the basis of all the information
on hand. Dominique read and collected everything about the soul. She didn’t have to start from
scratch for Luftbusiness (Life for Sale), because all her works are about the soul, even Mein Name ist
Bach (Jagged Harmonies). Apart from the historical and anecdotal aspects, there was philosophy,
religion, birth and death, and especially music,” Antoine Jaccoud summarises his first encounter
with the material.
Cinema images spring to mind: one unforgettable scene in the film Mein Name ist Bach (Jagged
Harmonies) when the King of Prussia meets “the King of Music” at the grave. Philosophy and music
come close to something that we like to define as “eternity”. The soul as something that stays on, or
at least as the hope of something that stays on, becomes perceptible. As the most profound
characteristic and the source of the human condition, as the seal of an individual, it is also present in
the silence of the short grieving movie Le Jour du Bain (The Day of the Bath). Dominique de Rivaz
shot this film in 1994, in remembrance of thousands of Jews in Kiev, who fell victim to the Nazis at
Babi Yar in September 1941.
“The soul theme has indeed always been present in Dominique de Rivaz's work. But now it became
the main topic. For Dominique, selling one’s soul was no game and certainly no joke. She took the
incident seriously. She was deeply moved by the newspaper report and the possibility of selling
oneself off. It was our primary task to turn the soul into something tangible. A soul cannot be
portrayed with the cinematic means available. It’s like wine, in a way. A drop of the good stuff with
all its attributes between the drinking and swallowing stage cannot be described in words.”
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Of the three marginal young men in the imaginary German city Hamlin, whose name could be a
cross between Hameln and Berlin, Filou is the most sensitive, the most vulnerable and the most
responsible. In the story it is he, however, who will auction off his soul. How does he perceive this
loss?
“First of all, it had to be made obvious that the game gets serious for Filou,” Antoine Jaccoud
explains. “He no longer separates virtual reality from tangible reality. He thus thinks that he has lost
the ability to love. He loses desire just like his social commitment and his ability to communicate.
He experiences moments of being abandoned. The contact with his fellow men is disrupted.”
Dominique de Rivaz emphasises: “It was difficult to create scenes to make these topics visible and
experienceable. Moreover they had to be a part of a dramatically comprehensible and captivating
story. Finally, the soul-related aspects were most plausibly rendered visible via the senses. It has to
be said, however, that the extraordinary talents of the main actors, particularly of Tomas Lemarquis,
who played Filou, but also of Dominique Jann (Moritz) and of Joel Basman (Liocha), were decisive
in making the screen adaptation succeed.”
Because he loses his taste, his feelings, his own melodies, and finally his capacity for amazement,
the initially endearing dog sitter, who is followed by the four-legged animals like the Pied Piper of
Hameln by the rats, turns into a kind of death angel.
Antoine Jaccoud accepts the image as something familiar: “Filou does fall like an angel.”
Dominique insists: “To me, all three – Liocha, Moritz and Filou – are angels.”
One is tempted to ask: “Where do angels fall to?” Surely to the ground and, in cities, on to tiles,
sheet metal and glass. Luftbusiness (Life for Sale) was shot in Luxembourg in original locations with
an S-16mm hand camera directed by Séverine Barde. But there is also a derelict, three-storey
greenhouse made of glass. This winter garden is breakable, but it sometimes replaces heaven for our
three “angels”. Chance, poetry, music and light yield a few instants of life harmony, where it is
possible to be oneself and to find oneself. The three young men thrive on almost nothing. Filou
walks dogs, Moritz takes a job as a pharma test person and Liocha, originally from Russia, sells his
sperm to the pretty laboratory assistant Gerdi at the sperm bank. He also owns a hen and a few
pictures from his childhood. All three donate more blood than is allowed, just to fill their stomachs.
They get by until they sell a few things, which they consider dispensable, at an online auction.
Liocha gives away his difficult childhood, Moritz gives away a few decades of his life, and Filou
gives away his soul. It’s more a game than a business deal.
Dominique de Rivaz says: “I was mainly concerned about the question whether a human being has
the right to experiment with his own person boundlessly, whether he has the right to sell himself off,
in whatever form that may be, or rather, to give himself away in the true meaning of the term."
Thus the story does not only focus on the soul, but also on finiteness. “Not-yet-dead” is the surname
of Bruno who lives in a cardboard box. The homeless yell “not yet” when the assistants of Körlin, the
keeper of the depot, walk through the night to transport the people who have died of hunger and
cold to Körlin's morgue. In other words, “Not yet dead” means “dead soon“, “dead some time“, or
“dead one day for sure“. Luftbusiness (Life for Sale) is a simile hinging on death like on an anchor. It
is the ultimate reality which cannot be suppressed by the cyber world, as attractive and potentially
profitable it may be.
“It’s the dead at Körlin’s morgue who finally get to hear Filou's tunes. It is not revealed whether he is
one of them. At any rate, his soul is not paid for. His friends, however, get a visit from the money
angel Lila in her yellow Money Logistics van.”
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The fable could be tied to knowledge, to the Greek mythology figures Charon, Cerberus and
Orpheus or to the soul sellers in literature. At one point, one can almost hear some of the lyrics from
a song by Matthias Claudius “The Moon has Risen”: “... like a quiet chamber...” These are
endearing, tiny details which point to life.
“I hope that a concrete story has grown out of an abstract idea. When I used to speak about Bach, I
knew it all: how to speak about the soul, a ‘small, dumb, minute thing’, as Filou puts it,” muses
director Dominique de Rivaz, who turned her dismay into a moving film.
Although the reality of Luftbusiness (Life for Sale) is so close to our contemporary life, which
measures everything by money standards only, we are sometimes reminded of the paintings and the
poems of the Romantics. Dominique de Rivaz and Antoine Jaccoud's young and strictly personal
romanticism is steeped in many other cultures, though.
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Far from the heart of satisfied cities
The film's universe, by Stéphane Lévy, artistic director
The city, an imaginary German one, was conceived as one far removed from the urban patterns
we love, far removed from the patterns that reassure us, far removed from the "heart of satisfied
cities".
The universe of Luftbusiness was intentionally uncomfortable. Discrepancies compel spectators to
interpret city codes anew and to broaden their field of vision. Each design was based on
transparency: the greenhouse, the Internet café, the towers of the city, the entrance of the
McClean, the jars at the morgue... Hamlin, at the crossroads of several large German cities,
commands an attentive look. A look towards our own future.
The preliminary iconographic research for this urban fable was essentially focused on life in
Russia. A bible of images, plans and sketches was put at the disposal of the artistic crew and the
producers. All visions had to converge. An imaginary city was going to be created.
In the imaginary topography of Hamlin, a river symbolizing Styx separates the city from the Depot
(the morgue of the homeless, those whom nobody claims). The city is divided in two: the poor
town with the Internet Café, and the rich town with the city centre. Outcasts live in the poor part,
in camps furnished with odds and ends or in tents like in Paris. Their universe is portrayed by a
range of cold, non-glossy colours expressing the lack of comfort, the destiny of the badly-off.
Precise dabs of colour are an exception to the range of cold colours: the Icon of the Trinity by
Andrei Rublev, the covers of the big bed in the greenhouse (matching the colours of the Icon),
Filou’s fluo pink guitar, the van of Money Logistics, the pink shawl knitted by the Knitter, the ties
worn by Körlin's assistants: monochromaticity with meaningful dashes of colour.
The greenhouse, a central place where the visible and the invisible merge, was conceived halfway between a badly maintained aquarium and a glass cathedral. Dirty at the bottom, it gets
cleaner higher up. Strangely implanted in a plot of industrial wasteland, it seems to have served no
purpose. The greenhouse is an unlikely palace, a childhood retreat, a magical place buried deep
in our memory. It had to be built from scratch. Plates of real and synthetic glass were mounted on
a steel skeleton structure welded and erected on site. The structure was refined by the expert
hands of our painters, patinators and assistant set designers. Our crew comprised up to twenty-four
people.
The Depot had a model: the morgue of the poor in Tallin, Estonia. The coffins made of loose
planks whose bark had not even been removed are those of the homeless. The Depot bears the
traces of collapsed foundations, listing trivia which are of no interest to history. The people who
die in the street are received with dignity. Körlin’s morgue is a place where indifference has no
place. The blood-red brick house we found in a dilapidated industrial estate. The offices, lab
rooms and the mineralogical museum are relics of Luxembourg’s glorious mining past. Two
trainees filled each “soul jar” with objects indexed by lists. A thousand jars, each with its own
history, hence, its own soul.
In contrast, the Internet Café is a lively place, a place of exchange. It is multicultural and full of
human warmth and caressed by the breezes and the winds of the world. It is located in the
basement in an anonymous underground passage lit by hexagonal neon lights. The Internet Café is
a UFO with a futuristic and old-looking design at the same time. The painters and patinators
reworked the entire place to give it its smoky look. The computers, of old-fashioned and current
design, make epochs merge.
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The sperm bank is a place entirely created in our imagination. A corridor of a technical college
with a designer look was transformed by partitions and cubicles. A daring red was chosen for the
counter and the cubicle. The same colour red was removed from the blood donation room: the
emblem of the Red Cross, familiar, yet disconcerting, is grey here. A familiar, yet different
universe.
The public toilets of Rosa represent an immaculate, reassuring place because everything can be
cleansed there. This is where opposites meet: the water and the steam of the showers and the
colourful fire of Rosa’s chapel. This is where two extremes crash: the mundane and the sacred.
The mirrors of the high-tech toilets reflect that which everyone has within himself.
The design of other objects is also worth mentioning: the graveyard underneath Lila’s window,
which was a vegetable garden of a vicarage where we interspersed the cabbages with our tombs...
Our discreet red-and-white lifebelt on a motorway viaduct... the children’s merry-go-round we
found for the greenhouse...
These are the places and materials of a fable mixed with a few truths.
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The protagonists
FILOU (Tómas Lemarquis) - Money, work, hair: Filou lacks it all. On the other hand, he's sensitive, altruistic and
easily enchanted. Filou lives in a greenhouse like in a crystal palace. He hears the notes of his invisible guitar and
walks rich people’s dogs like the pied piper of Hameln. Despite his open outlook, Filou is too fragile for the
implacable world of insecurity. He sells his soul because he cannot be a Man in this unjust society. So he
chooses to be a Beast.
LIOCHA (Joel Basman) - An illegal Russian boy. He speaks basic German in a disjointed way and carries his
layer in a rucksack worn on his stomach. Underneath his sprightly manner, Liocha conceals the wounds of a
broken childhood. He dreams of marrying Gerdi, the laboratory assistant at the sperm bank, to obtain the
German nationality. To make this dream come true, he decides to sell his childhood on the Internet. It is a bad
wager.
MORITZ (Dominique Jann) - He is absolutely gorgeous, but so self-destructive that he does not shirk from being a
guinea-pig for several drugs at once. Mo finds it incredibly amusing to sell his remaining years with a couple of
mouse clicks. Unfortunately, the last few days of his life are also the best. Mo never takes off his Borsalino-style
hat. His pockets contain the numerous drugs and the Casio watch reminding him of taking them.
KÖRLIN (André Jung) - Keeper of the Depot, the morgue for outcasts, Koerlin seems to have compassion only for
the dead. He views the three friends’ dealings critically, Filou’s in particular, who walks his old dog Cerberus
every day. Koerlin’s hair went grey prematurely because of his life among the dead. As he rarely leaves the
Depot, he wears comfortable indoor clothes. He is the symbolic father of the three.
ROSA (Robin Gooch) - The attendant of a high tech public toilet service, Rosa supplies toilets, showers and
affection to the three. Originally from a distant island, maternal Rosa is slightly mystical and the symbolic mother
of the three.
LILA (Claude De Demo) - A young employee at Money Logistics. She is in charge of taking money orders to
people’s homes. She is horrified when she realises that the three young men have sold their most intimate and
specifically human aspect in order to survive. Moved by Mo, she becomes his one and only during his last few
days. Driving her van, is she an angel or a messenger between the two worlds?
GERDI (Melanie Schmidli) - An apprentice at the sperm bank. Moved by attractive and surprising Liocha, she has
difficulty keeping the distance required by her job.
BRUNO, aka Not-yet-dead, (Roeland Wiesnekker) - Sort of a big brother to Filou. As he is ill, he has swapped the
greenhouse for his last few days in a cardboard box in the street. Bruno is a man of integrity who voluntarily
chooses to get to the bottom of misery. Like Diogenes in his barrel, Bruno dares to speak the truth even if it is
unpleasant to hear.
THE HUNCHBACK (Marina Mottin) - She lets passers-by touch her hump (whether it is real or not) for good luck,
in exchange for a few Euros. Air business.
THE HUSBAND of the hunchback (Thierry Van Werveke) - He gives the sales talk to attract businessmen who
will do anything to save their skin.
KÖRLIN’s ASSISTANTS (Leslie Woodhall and Charlie Pires) - Formerly homeless people taken in by Koerlin.
They are the handy men of the Depot. They search the encampments at night to collect those who do not survive
the cold. As worthy representatives of death, Körlin obliges them to be presentable.
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I had been the owner of a Crystal palace
Tómas Lemarquis, Filou
I can say without exaggeration that Luftbusiness had a big influence on my life in many ways. I have always
been fascinated with destiny and I don´t believe in coincidences in life. I like the idea that a film can change
the path of your life and your way of thinking. To integrate some aspects of the character you play in to your
own persona and vice versa.
I was introduced to Dominque de Rivaz through the set designer Stephane Levy who I met in Paris. After a
meeting with Dominique in Berlin she decided that she wanted me for the main roles of her film. At that
time I spoke not a single word in German! I found her extremely brave to take the chance of me learning
German in nine months for the film! In the excitement of making the film I said yes immediately. It was then
that I became conscious of needing to be brave as well as managing the task. I decided to move to Berlin
and start my German studies. It was a lot of hard work, which I certainly do not regret as I fell in love with
Berlin and I decided to stay there after the film was finished. So in a way the film brought me to the place I
live now.
The whole operation wasn´t without risk. At the time, the film wasn´t fully financed. I was therefore taking a
chance with the decision of moving to Berlin and working without a salary whilst preparing for the film. But
for me art is impossible without risk, I followed my inner voice that told me that this film would be made.
Beside the German language I wanted to get into the shoes of the character. And like all characters I play, I
start with the shoes and study the way the character walks. As I had very little money at the time, which was
in fact very good for the preparation of Filou´s universe, I was wandering in the Mauerpark flee-marked after
it's closure and I found old shoes lying on the floor. I picked them up, they where too big but they had a lot
of character. It was exactly how I imagined Filou having found his shoes! So I wore them every day for four
months before the shooting took place, and my whole way of walking changed! This shoes where then used
in the film.
During these four months before the shooting I wore only one pair of trousers and sweater. This was a very
fulfilling and interesting experience; living with nothing. Seeing how liberating it can be and how much
energy the world of consumption can take from you. I was lucky to live in a decent house though, I was not
on the street or in the same position as Filou. But in the beginning of the film, Filou does not need anything
to be happy. He finds his happiness in small things and makes music with air. He is an ‘air-artist’ or
‘Luftkünstler’.
The film also taught me to overcome my fear of dogs. After I was bitten by a dog as a child, I always had a
fear for dogs. For the role of Filou, I was confronted with ten dogs I had to walk! With the good help of dog
trainers, I learned to treat and train them, how to talk to them. Even more than that, I developed an interest
for dogs and their different personalities.
Luftbusiness takes place in an unknown time, perhaps a close future, were Europe has become a mixture of
many cultures. The many different accents we hear in the film serve the film very well. The music of the
Tiger Lillies, Martyn Jaques’s counter tenor voice, also underlines the strange atmosphere of this future world
strongly.
Mo, Liocha, Filou, three friends living in a glass house, beautifully made. At the end of the shooting I was
sad leaving it. After all, I had been the owner of a Crystal palace!
Luftbusiness, a film full of humanity somehow, at the same time, as being about the loss of humanity and the
loss of the self.
Je peux affirmer sans exagérer que Luftbusiness a exercé une grande influence sur ma vie et ce d’un grand
nombre de points de vue. J’ai toujours été fasciné par le destin, et je ne crois pas aux coïncidences. J’aime
l’idée qu’un film puisse changer le parcours de ma vie ou ma manière de penser, tout comme j’aime que
certains aspects des personnages que j’interprète me changent ou, au contraire, que ce sois moi qui change
ces personnages.
14
A poetic, but brutal interpellation
Dominique Jann, Moritz
When I read the screenplay of Luftbusiness for the first time in a train from Zurich to Berne, I was choked by
emotion. It was one of my best commuting trips. With the role of Mo I had the impression of finally landing in the
right spot. And with Luftbusiness, my first major part in a movie became reality!
I tried to contrast the tragic aspect of Mo's role with joie de vivre and humour. To me, Mo has something of a
gypsy in Bucharest: his ability to make something beautiful out of shitty conditions. On that score, Mo’s costume
helped me a great deal. On the first shooting day, I stuffed my pockets full at the catering service – just like Mo
would probably have done. From lump sugar, tea bags, a golf ball to a knife they contained everything you need
for life!
The shooting could not have taken place at a more opportune moment: one month later I became a first-time
father, which made the time spent in Luxembourg very special. I wanted to give it all; I wanted to die with Mo to
go home and receive a new life. This role enabled me to experience the carefree attitude, but also the solitude I
have in common with Mo.
It is my hope that Luftbusiness will be a poetic, but brutal interpellation in our profit-oriented, digitalised world.
My hen was an actress in her former life
Joel Basman, Liocha
The shooting of Luftbusiness was hard on us actors: we were asked to work with precision and, apart from
the cold, we always had to wear the same down-and-out clothes... Dominique de Rivaz is a director with a
firm idea of the images in her mind and she knows how to convert them to the screen. So I was able to
considerably expand my working precision.
I learnt a lot from Tomas and Dominique, my two “big brothers” in the movie. They gave me a great deal of
“free” advice! To me, a Swiss actor, Luftbusiness was a terrific challenge: I had to tackle the Russian
language. After regular studies with a Russian coach, I exercised the sentences with a dictaphone until I was
fluent. Thanks to Dominique’s knowledge of Russian, I was able to put the finishing touches on my
pronunciation.
An additional difficulty was that my main partner was a layer. A city boy like me normally only comes in
touch with chicken in their roast form. I’m sure that our hen was an actress in her former life: Gerdi never
missed a cue, stayed in position and knew her lines before the shooting started. She knew no fear and loved
being caressed and cuddled. The entire crew was in love with her. Unfortunately she had to go back to her
farm in the end. Gerdi and Cerberus, the three-legged old dog, deserve the Academy Award of best
supporting actor!
15
Cast list
Filou
Mo
Liocha
Körlin
Lila
Rosa
Le mari de la Bossue
Bruno "Not-yet-dead"
Tómas Lemarquis
Dominique Jann
Joel Basman
André Jung
Claude de Demo
Robin Gooch
Thierry Van Werveke
Roeland Wiesnekker
Credits
Director
Dominique de Rivaz
Script
Dominique de Rivaz & Antoine Jaccoud
based on an idea of Dominique de Rivaz
dialogue Antoine Jaccoud
Image
Art director
Production designer
Editing
Make-up
Costume
Sound
Mixing
Casting
Production manager
Music
Séverine Barde
Stéphane Levy
Christina Schäffer
Loredana Cristelli
Katja Alexis-Reinert
Uli Simon
Philippe Kohn
Michel Schillings
Corinna Glaus
Jesus Gonzalez
Martyn Jaques of "The Tiger Lillies"
Producers
Jean-Louis Porchet & Gérard Ruey
Nicolas Steil
CAB Productions (CH), Iris Productions (LU)
Schweizer Fernsehen (SF)
Télévision Suisse Romande (TSR)
Televisione svizzera di lingua italiana (TSI)
SRG SSR idée suisse
ARTE
Office fédéral de la culture (DFI), Suisse
Film Fund Luxembourg
Fonds culturel de Suissimage
Fondation Vaudoise pour le Cinéma
Fonds Regio Films
Succès Cinéma
Succès Passage Antenne
Amt für Kultur des Kantons Bern / SWISSLOS
Volkart Stiftung
A Swiss-Luxemburg coproduction
In coproduction with
With the support of
Format 35mm – 1:1.85 – Dolby SRD – German – French / English subtitles – 89 minutes
World sales : Media Luna Entertainment GmbH & Co - Aachenerstr. 26 – D 50674 Cologne –
T. +49 221 801 498 0 - F. +49 221 801 498 21 - [email protected] - www.medialuna-entertainment.de
16
DOMINIQUE DE RIVAZ
Of Swiss and Italian origin, born in Zurich in 1953. She is a
director and screenwriter living in Berne and Berlin. BA in
literature and history at Fribourg University (Switzerland).
Countless stays in Russia, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Estonia.
Assistant film director of Alain Tanner, Bakhtyar
Kudoynazarov (Tajikistan), Jacqueline Veuve, Felix Tissi,
Nino Jacusso... The Fribourg International Film Festival
(Asian, African and Latin American cinema), where she
acted as a press speaker and publications officer, has
permanently influenced her aesthetical choices. Languages:
French, German, Swiss German, Italian, Russian and
English. Member of the Board of Directors of the Swiss
Authors’ Society.
Feature films
• Luftbusiness
with Tómas Lemarquis, Dominique Jann, Joel Basman, André Jung, Claude De Demo.
Cab productions (CH), Iris productions (LUX), SF DRS, Arte, 96’, 2007
• Mein Name ist Bach
with Jürgen Vogel et Vadim Glowna. 106’, 2003
CAB Productions (CH) Pandora Film (D), Twenty Twenty Vision (D), ARTE, WDR
Swiss Film Prize – Best Feature Film 2004
Selected to represent Switzerland at the Oscars 2004, Best Foreign Language Film
Film Festival Locarno, Official Selection, Piazza Grande, 2003
Berlin International Film Festival, German Cinema - Festival Max Ophuls, Saarbrücken, 2004
Seattle International Film Festival - Shangai International Film Festival, 2004
La Mujer y el Cine, Festival Mar del Plata (Argentine) - Sochi, International Film Festival, 2004
Documentaries
• Chère Jacqueline… Hommage à une grande Dame du Cinéma
Portrait of the film director Jacqueline Veuve, VPS Production, TSR, TSI, 60’, 2005
Film Festival Locarno, Filmmakers of the Present, 2005
• DesignSuisse, Portrait of Martin Leuthold, SRG SSR idée suisse, 12’, 2006
• Onoma, 12 portraits of Swiss districts, SRG SSR idée suisse for Expo 02, 2002
• Mon père, c’est un lion (Jean Rouch, in remembrance), co-direction with Lionel Baier, 8’, 2002
• Balade fribourgeoise, co-direction with Jacqueline Veuve, documentary, 60’, 1993
• Georges Borgeaud ou les bonheurs de l'écriture, PCT Production - INA, documentary, 50’, 1993
Short films
• Bannii Djen (Le Jour du Bain)
Short film b/w 35 mm, 20’, 1994
Leopards of Tomorrow, Film Festival Locarno - Grand prix, Short Film Festival Namur
• Aélia
Short film b/w 35 mm, 20’, 1985
Audience Prize for Best Foreign Film, Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival
Award for Short Film, Festival de Figueira da Foz
Publications
TACHE : [ta∫ ] n. f.
Collection Théâtre Suisse, Éditions L’Âge d’Homme & Société Suisse des Auteurs 2002
Douchinka (Petite âme)
Novel, Editions de l’Aire, to be published in 2008
Dominique de Rivaz - Triftstr. 50, D – 13353 Berlin - Tél. + 49 30 454 29 34 - [email protected]
17
TÓMAS LEMARQUIS
Nationality
Education
Languages
Award
France + Iceland
Course FLORENT
English, French, Icelandic, German, Danish
Shooting Star 2004
Feature films
Year
Title
Director
2007
Luftbusiness
Dominique de Rivaz
2006
Köld Slod
Björn Br. Björnsson
2004
La maison de Nina
Richard Dembo
2003
2003
2003
2005
Noi Albinoi
Dagur Petursson
Edduverdlaun (Icelandic Oscar) for best actor
European Film Awards, nominated for the European actor award
Undine Awards, best actor in Nordic country
2001
Villiljos
Ragnar Bragason & Dagur Kari
Theater
Year
Title
Theater
2000
Hafnafjardleikhsid
Tour in Denmark and Finland
1998
Alice in Wonderland
Théâtre de l'Orange Bleue,
then tour in Lille
1993-1994
1993-1995
La reine des glaces
Street theatre
National Theater of Iceland
Television
Year
Title
Director
2005
Une famille parfaite
ARTE
Pierre Trividic, Patrick-Mario Bernard
18
DOMINIQUE JANN
Education
Languages
Instrument
Special abilities
Training: Studio Pygmalion, Paris
HMT, Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Zurich
German, two Swiss German dialects
French, English
Guitar, voice training
Air acrobatics, vertical rope, bungee jumping
Feature films
Title
Director
Luftbusiness
Tag am Meer
Marmorera
Concluzie (in Rumanian)
Snow White
Der Skifahrer
Tiger erdolchen
Dominique de Rivaz
Moritz Gerber
Markus Fischer
Gabriel Sandru
Samir
Martin Guggisberg
Moritz Gerber
Parazit
Strafversetzt
Strähl
Haus ohne Fenster
Truth or Dare
Lower Level
Gabriel Sardu
P. Taraz
M. Henry
P. Reichenbach
St. Hayes
A. Müller
Theater
Title
Director
Theater
Frühlingserwachen
Finger 100Bis
David Bösch
M. Fankhauser
Studer in der Vehfreude
M. Lehmann
Play it again Sam
Twelfth Night
Spiel, Satz und Sieg
Walser Felix Szenen
Was ihr wollt
Drei-Groschenoper
N. Bernard
S. Tischendorf,
S. Tischendorf
N. Bernard
Theater an der Sihl, Zurich, Stuttgart
Theater an der Winkelwiese, Theater
an der Sihl, Zurich
Theater an der Sihl, Zürich, Magic Net
Festival, Frankfurt/Oder
Theater an der Sihl, Zurich
Theater an der Sihl, Zurich
Berne
Berne
Berne
Berne
Award
Film festival Locarno 2005
Film festival Locarno 2005
Film festival Locarno 2005
Best Swiss Short Film 2004
Film festival Locarno 2004
19
JOEL BASMAN
Born
Languages
Instrument
Sport
Education
Award
1990 in Zurich
English, French, Hebrew, Swiss German
Drums
Skateboard, football, swimming
Since 2006 European Film Actors School, Zurich
Shooting Star 2008 - Berlin
Feature films
Year
Title
Director
2007
2007
2007
2006
2006
2005
2004
Luftbusiness (main part)
Tausend Ozeane
Mikado
Cannabis (main part)
Break Out
Ausgrenzungen (short film, main part)
Mein Name ist Eugen
Dominique de Rivaz
Luki Frieden
Silvia Zeitlinger
Niklaus Hilber
Mike Eschmann
Liliane Steiner
Michael Steiner
Television
Year
Title
Director
2007
2004-2006
Jimmie
Lüthi & Blanc
Theater
Year
Title
Theater
2005
2004
2003
Power of secrets feelings
Langstrassenstory
Youth theater project
Schauspielschule Zurich
Schauspielschule Zurich
Schauspielhaus Zurich
DRS SF
DRS SF
Tobias Ineichen
Various directors
20
ANDRÉ JUNG
Languages
Sports
Luxemburgish, French, English
Swimming, cycling
Education
1973-1976 Hochschule for Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart
Awards
2003 Golden Maske Schauspielhaus Zurich
2002 and 1988 Best Actor of the year – Theater heute
2001 Rita-Tanck-Glaser Preis der Hamburger Kulturstiftung
Feature films
Year
Title
Director
2007
2007
2007
2005
2004
2004
2001
2001
2001
1999
1997
1993
1992
1991
1986
Das Geheimnis des Glücks
Luftbusiness
Vorne ist verdammt weit weg
Perl oder Pica / Kleine Geheimnisse
La revanche
Im Nordwind
Das Experiment
Le club des chômeurs
Joy ride
Grosse Gefühle
Back in trouble
Three shake-a-leg steps to heaven (D/NL/B)
Geteilte Nacht
Schacko Klak
Vermischte Nachrichten
Lola Randl
Dominique de Rivaz
Thomas Heinemann
Pol Cruchten
Andy Bausch
Bettina Oberli
Oliver Hirschbiegel
Andy Bausch
Martin Rengel
Christof Schertenleib
Andy Bausch
Andy Bausch
Pius Morger
F. Hoffmann, P. Kieffer
Alexander Kluge
Television
Year
Title
Director
2007
2006
2006
2006
2001
2000
1996
1996
1994
Würzburg-Krimi
Lutter: Um jeden Preis
Freigesprochen
Polizeiruf 110 : Taubers Angst
Bella Block : Bitterer Verdacht
Adriane auf Naxos (CH/J/UDA/F)
Polizeiruf 110 : Kleine Dealer, grosse Träume
Die Stunde null oder die Kunst des Servierens
Ausgerechnet Zoe
Manuel Siebenmann
Jörg Grünler
Peter Payer
Klaus Krämer
Dagmar Hirtz
Brian Large
Urs Odermatt
Christoph Marthaler
Markus Imboden
21
Theater
Year
2007
2006-2007
2005-2007
2004-2006
2004-2007
2001-2006
2002-2005
2002-2003
Title/Theater
Director
Glaube, Liebe, Hoffnung
Münchner Kammerspiele
Robinson Cruso, die Frau und der Neger
Nationaltheater Gent und Münchner Kammerspiele in Coproduktion
Elementarteilchen
Münchner Kammerspiele, Übernahme vom Schauspielhaus Zürich
Winter
Münchner Kammerspiele
Die zehn Gebote
Münchner Kammerspiele
Der Messias
Münchner Kammerspiele
Anatomie Titus fall of Rome
Münchner Kammerspiele
In den Alpen (Elfriede Jelinek)
Co-production Münchner Kammerspiele and Schauspielhaus Zurich
Stefan Kimmig
Johan Simons
Johan Simons
Jossi Wieler
Johan Simons
Nikola Weisse
Johan Simons
Christoph Marthaler
22
CLAUDE DE DEMO
Born
Languages
Sport
Instrument
Education
1985-1995
1996-1999
1986-1996
1999-2003
2002-2004
2002-2005
2003
2004
Since 2005
25.04.1980
Luxemburgish, German, French, English
Tai-Chi, fending, dancing, riding
Piano, singing
Dance (classical and modern)
French and German diction at Music Academy, Luxemburg
Piano at Music Academy, Luxemburg
Studies at Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart
Nationaltheater Mannheim
Schauspiel Köln
Nominated for the Puck Nachwuchspreis der Stadt Köln
Award as best young actress of NRW
Schauspielhaus Bochum
Films
Luftbusiness
Freigesprochen
Der Elefant
Soko Köln
Hinaus
RTL
ZDF
Feature film
Feature film
Serie
Serie
Short film
Main part
Main part
Main part
Main part
Main part
Theater
Fräulein A., Die 81 Minuten des Fräulein A. (Lothar Trolle); Staatstheater Stuttgart; Dir: M. Kles (2001)
Nise, Das Wunder der Liebe/Die kluge Närrin (Lope de Vega); Wilhelma Theater Stuttgart; Dir: Wolf-Dietrich Sprenger
(2002)
Rosa, Recht auf Jugend (Arnolt Bronnen); Wilhelma Theater Stuttgart/ Nationaltheater Mannheim; Dir: Hasko Weber
(2002)
Jenny, Das Maß der Dinge (Neil LaBute); Nationaltheater Mannheim; Dir:Till Weinheimer (2002)
Boo, Yard Girl (Rebecca Prichard); Schauspiel Köln; Dir: Ingrid Gündisch (2003)
Rita, Ein Mann wird jünger (Italo Svevo); Schauspiel Köln; Dir: Marc Günther (2003)
Fatima, Rückkehr in die Wüste (Bernard-Marie Koltès); Schauspiel Köln, Dir: Thomas Bischoff (2003)
Rose, Die See (Edward Bond); Schauspiel Köln; Dir: Günter Krämer (2003)
Rebecca, Auf dem Land (Martin Crimp); Schauspiel Köln; Dir: Heike Frank (2003)
Sophie, Free (Simon Bowen); Schauspiel Köln; Dir: K.D. Schmidt (2004)
Desdemona, Othello (William Shakespeare); Schauspiel Köln; Dir: Ola Mafaalani (2004)
Agnes, Die Familie Schroffenstein (Heinrich von Kleist); Schauspiel Köln; Dir: M. Thalheimer (2004)
Elmire, Der Tartuffe (Molière); Schauspiel Köln; Dir: Albrecht Hirche (2004)
Vaine Gurie, Leona Dunt, Taylor Figueroa, Charlotte Brewster, Der Jesus von Texas (DBC Pierre); Schauspiel Köln; Dir:
Friederike Heller (2005)
Nina, Die Möwe (Anton Cechov); Schauspiel Köln; Dir: Günter Krämer (2005)
Frau Sorbi, Die Wildente (Henrik Ibsen); Schauspiel Köln; Dir: Armin Petras (2005)
23
Sara Sampson, Miss Sara Sampson (G. E. Lessing); Schauspielhaus Bochum; Dir: B. Walther (2005)
A kiss is just a kiss, Liederabend; Schauspielhaus Bochum (2005)
Mabel Chiltern, Ein idealer Gatte (Oscar Wilde); Schauspielhaus Bochum; Dir: Armin Holz (2006)
Mrs Martin, Die kahle Sängerin (Eugène Ionesco); Schauspielhaus Bochum; Dir: Jan Bosse (2006)
Kaoru, Afterdark (Haruki Murakami); Schauspielhaus Bochum; Leitung: Holger Weimar (2006)
Lucienne Homenides de Histangua, Floh im Ohr (Georges Fédeau); Dir: Dieter Giesing (2006)
Radio/Features
Pica,Tod in Lissabon by Robert Wilson; WDR Köln; Dir: Walter Adler
Karin, Das Kreuz auf dem Erlenberg by Bodo Traber; WDR Köln; Dir: Thomas Leutzbach
Marie, 35 Kilo Hoffnung by Anna Gavalda; WDR Köln; Dir: Andreas Westphalen
Sprecherin, Nimm eine Rose und nenne sie Lieder; WDR Köln, Dir: Detlef Meissner
Zitatorin, Freaks by Elke Buhr; WDR Köln; Dir: Detlef Meissner
Sprecherin, Wann ist der Krieg zu Ende? WDR Köln; Dir: Axel Pleuser
Voice Over, Die Wahrheit ist im Untergrund; WDR Köln; Dir: Thomas Blockhaus
24
SÉVERINE BARDE
Director of photography
Education
A Levels (Latin) at Collège Sismondi, Geneva
Manipulation of puppets on strings at “Marionnettes de Genève”
Training “Marionnette et Cinéma” with Jim Henson at the “Institut International de la Marionnette”
School of cinema, section “Image” at the “Institut des Arts de Diffusion” (IAD) in Belgium, plus several trainings
Professional experience
Director
3 small documentaries of the series “Un Ange Passe”, with co-director M.C. Ruata-Arn, 2004.
Director of photography
Feature films
“Attention aux chiens” by F.C. Marzal (Light Night Prod), super 16mm, 1998, in Switzerland
“J’ai toujours voulu être une sainte” by G. Mersch (Samsa films), 35mm, 2002, in Luxemburg
“Poids Léger” by J.P. Améris (La Pan européenne), vidéo, 2003, in France
“Au Large de Bad Ragaz” by FC Marzal (Light Night Prod.), super 16mm, 2003, in Switzerland
“Garçon Stupide” by L. Baier (Saga prod.), DV, 2003, in Switzerland (co-photography with L. Baier)
“Comme des Voleurs” by L. Baier (Saga Prod), mini DV, 2005, in Switzerland
“La vraie vie est ailleurs” by F. Choffat (Rita Prod.), mini DV, 2005, in Switzerland
“Luftbusiness” by D. de Rivaz (CAB Prod.), super 16mm, 2007, in Luxembourg
TV films
“L’Evangile selon Aimé” by A. Chandelle (Native Prod), super 16mm, 2004, in France
“Les Amants de la Dent Blanche” by R. Vouillamoz (PCT Prod), super 16mm,2005, in Switzerland
“Petites vacances à Knokke le Zout” by Y. Matthey, (Native Prod), super 16mm, 2007 (shooting)
Documentaries
“Le Pont rouge” by G. Mersch (Samsa prod), video, 1990, Luxemburg
“Sentimental Journey” by G. Mersch, super 16mm,1993, Luxemburg
“Luzia Zberg” by G. Schaedler (DAVI), video, 1995, Switzerland
“Iwer and Riwer” by G. Mersch, super 16mm, 1996, Luxemburg
“Made in India” by P. Plattner (Light Night Prod), video kinescope,1998, India
“Les Années des Titans” by E. Hagen (Maximage), super 16mm and video, 2000, Switzerland
“Les Visites de la Lune” by E. de Riedmatten (Le Cinéatelier), video, 2000, Switzerland
“Le Nuage” by J Piniel (CAB Prod), video, 2002, Switzerland
“Nicolas Bouvier, 22 Hospital street” by C. Kühn (Filmkollektiv), video IMX, 2003, in Sri Lanka
“Tristan et Iseult” by B. Rossel, Mini DV, 2005, in Switzerland
“Designsuisse” by P. Poloni, HDV, 2005, in Switzerland
“Bruno Manser, Laki Penan” by C. Kühn (Filmkollektiv), HDV, in 2006, in Borneo
“Zermatt” by F. Reusser (Point Prod), XDCAM, Switzerland, 2006
“Pierre Landolt” by E. de Riedmatten (Cinéatelier), HDV, Switzerland, 2007
Short films
“Le Fantôme” by J. Faravel, 16mm, 1996, Switzerland
“La Fille à la camera” by F. Reusser, 1999, Switzerland
“Douce Nuit” by F. Reusser, 2000, video, Switzerland
“R” by Damien et Yannick Tenet, 35mm, 2000, Switzerland
“Contre toute Attente” by J. Aymon, video, 2001, Switzerland
“Le Jeu” by Fabrice Aragno, super 16mm, 2001, Switzerland
“La Clef des Champs” by F. Closuit, super 16mm, 2005, Switzerland
Advertisements
“TV8” by J. Meizer, video,2001, in Switzerland
“Pour la Recherche contre le Cancer” by D. Gilliand, vidwo, 2001, Switzerland
“Pour la Ligue contre le Cancer” by D. Gilliand, vidéo, 2002, Switzerland
“Les retraites populaires” by L. Baier, HDV, 2006, Switzerland
Animation
“Max and Co”, director Fred and Sam Guillaume (Cinémagination), in team of camera operators during the last 6 weeks, in Romont, 2006.
Assistant
Between 1991 and 2001, for 36 feature films or documentaries, about 15 short films and about 40 advertisements.
21bis rue des Délices, 1203 Genève - Tél. 022 344.11.29 / 079 433.01.40 - sbarde @bluewin.ch
25
STÉPHANE LÉVY
Art director
EDUCATION
86-88 Ecole supérieure des arts décoratifs (ESAD) Paris: scenography
86
Ecole Cantonale des Beaux Arts Lausanne (ECAL): drawing and modelling, external student
84-85 Workshop at Lucerne City Theater
83-84 Scenic service Swiss Television
79-83 Diploma as scene painter, Lausanne
74-79 Experimental school, arts
ART DIRECTOR IN FEATURE FILMS
07 “Luftbusiness” by D. de Rivaz Cab Productions CH & Iris Productions LUX
05 “La Mémoire des autres” by Pilar Anguita Mackay Olympia Films CH
03 “Bonhomme de chemin” by F. Mermoud Cinemanufacture CH
02 “Kadogo” by N. Wadimoff Caravan productions CH
00 “Potlatch” by P. Maillard ZOO Films CH
99 “La beauté sur la terre” by A. Plantevin Cinémanufacture CH
97 “F est un salaud” by M. Giesler Wega Films FR
96 “Blind Date” by Bouvier et Plantevin Thelma Films CH
95 “Walk the Walk” by R. Krammer Wega Films CH
95 “La Visite” by PH. Harrel Films du trésor FR
94 “Le Jour du bain” by D. de Rivaz Ukraine
92 “L’Ecrivain publique” by J-F Amiguet Erato FR
92 “Hélas pour moi” by J-L. Godard Wega Film FR
89 “La Femme de Rose Hill” by A. Tanner Cab Productions CH
ASISTANT ART DIRECTOR IN FILMS AND THEATER
06 “Marie Humbert” by M. Angello, design T. Aigri Alma Productions FR
05 “Zodiaque 2” by C-M. Rome, design T. Aigri Alma & Cab Productions FR
04 “Quel temps fait-il à Paris ?” by S. Hureau, scenographer R. Sarti FR
97-98 “La guerre dans le haut Pays” by F. Reusser, design J-C. Maret, Cab Productions and Arena CH and F
94 “La Loi des Belmonts” by D. Ronfeld, design R. Mabille Aurora D
92 “Les Caves du Majestics” by C. Goretta, design S. Etter TSR CH
91 “Une Femme en question” by A. Tasma, design P-A. Croisier TSR CH
90 “Pierre qui brûle” by L. Kaneman, design R. Deville
88 “Bois de justice” by R. Vuillamoz, design P-A. Croisier TSR CH
86 “Florence et ses locataires” by S. Colbert, design A. Borel TSR CH
85 “Noces de souffre” by R. Vuillamoz, design P-A. Croisier TSR CH
85 “Folies Suisse” by CH. Lipinska, design J. Wersinger TSR CH
COLLABORATION IN EXHIBITIONS / MUSEUMS
05 “Naissances” Musée de l’Homme, Paris, scenography with Scénoscope
03 “Quais de Chine” Dunquerque, assistant of R. Sarti, scenographer
01 “Spectacle d’ ouverture EXPO 02” assistant of J-C. Maret, scenographer
00 “Salon du livre de Jeunesse” Montreuil, assistant of Y. Cassagne scenographer
00 “Africana” Asnière, scenography
97 “Expo universelle de Hannovre 2000” scenography preliminary project topics energies and health, art director F. Confino
98-96-94 “Expos Figures futures” CPLJ Montreuil, scenographer Y. Cassagne
90 “Expositions de photos des pays de l’Est” Musée de l’Elysée Lausanne, curator CH-H. Favrod, organisation
87-89 “Nuit de la Photographie” Musée de l’Elysée, organisation
THEATER
93 “Phèdre”, by Racine, staged by Gisèle Sallin, Théâtre des Osses CH
93 Design entertainment room, foyer, cafeteria of the Théâtre des Osses in Givizez, Fribourg CH
91 “Le Bal des Poussettes”, created and staged by G. Sallin CH
PAINTING EXHIBITIONS
07 “Ateliers portes ouvertes” Montreuil, invited by A. Tenaillon
06 Vœux d’artiste Mairie du 8e
06 Cour St. Pierre Paris 17e
O5-06 Expo Collective Rue Beaumarchais Montreuil
04 “Ateliers portes ouvertes” Montreuil invited at “Hirondelle Croisée”
04 Exhibition “Association 178”, Fontenay-sous-Bois
04 Collective exhibition, “Galerie Stanze Florence Bellaiche”, Paris
03 “Ateliers portes ouvertes” Montreuil, invited in the workshops of C. Bonnami-Redler and C. Bradi
02 “Ateliers portes ouvertes” Montreuil, invited by C. Bonnami-Redler
71 rue Parmentier, F - 93100 Montreuil – Tél. 33(0) 9 51 03 60 63 – Fax et Tel. 33 (0) 1 48 58 73 34 – Port. 33 (0) 6 85 45 81 14 - [email protected]
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ANTOINE JACCOUD
Writer, screenwriter and playwright
Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, on July 25, 1957.
Graduate in political sciences
Languages: French, English
Member of Société Suisse des Auteurs (SSA) + Auteurs-Autrices de Suisse (AdS).
Founder of the Selma 95 with Françoise Boillat (January 2005).
"A l'Ouest du Pecos" Documentary by Stéphane Goël (co-writer). Production: Climage (CH), 1991.
"Cap Vert" Short film by François Kohler (co-writer). Production: CAB Productions SA (CH), 1994.
"Connu de nos services" Documentary by Jean-Stéphane Bron. Production: Cinémanufacture (CH). (co-writer). 1997.
"Friz et Franz" Short film by Gaby Schaedler. (co-writer). Production: Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne (CH)-Lazennec tout
court (F). 1997.
"Cronaca locale" TV-serie (6 X 26') for Swiss Italian TV (designer, writer). Production: Crittin-Thiébaud (CH). Broadcasting
September 1998. "Prix de reconnaissance UBS" (for the scripts) at the Solothurn Film Festival, 1999.
"Azzuro" Feature film by Denis Rabaglia (co-writer). Production: C-Films/Alhena Films. 2000. Prix du public au Festival de
Namur. Bayard d'Or du scénario au Festival de Namur. Swiss Film Award 2000.
"La bonne conduite". Documentary (co-writer). Production and director: Jean-Stéphane Bron (CH). Award "Idée Suisse" SSR,
1998. Prix Europa, Berlin 1999 "10 Best European Documentaries Selection".
"La Falena". Pilot of the mini series “Patrouille de nuit” developed for the Télévision Suisse Italienne (writer). Production:
Crittin-Thiébaud (CH) Swissperform Award « Best Swiss TV film ». Festival Cinéma Tout Ecran - Geneva 2002
" Viandes ". Short film by Bruno Deville (co-writer). Production: CAB Productions SA, Lausanne. 2003.
“Luftbusiness”. Feature film by Dominique De Rivaz (co-writer). Production: CAB Productions SA (CH)- Iris Films
(Luxemburg). 2007.
“Home”. Feature film by Ursula Meier (co-writer). Production : Box Productions (CH)- Archipel 35 (F)- Need Production (B).
Release in 2008.
“Le Gros”. Feature film by Bruno Deville, Award « Best screenplay » by Société Suisse des Auteurs 2005. Belgian/Swiss coproduction. In development.
“La minute kiosque”. Short films (100 x 1 minute). Director of the series. Production Le Flair-Loterie romande-Télévision suisse
romande. Broadcasting: 2007.
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A night with The Tiger Lillies is like being transported back to Berlin’s cabarets of the 1920s. Stories full of
eccentricity, blasphemy and weirdness, but also full of fantasy, poetry, magic and love - these are The Tiger
Lillies’ tales. With dark British humour, the band celebrates an obscure danse macabre, an unsettling, freaky
show giving us a sad account of the dark side of life.
The London trio, a well-kept secret amongst insiders for some time, has gradually won fans in the world in recent
years. The intimate soirées, previously held in vaudeville theatres and tiny cabarets, eventually had to be moved
to the circus arena and larger theatres. The Tiger Lillies´ weird concoction of proletarian Liederabend and
Brechtian lowlife-theatre is quite traditional for Germany - even if the Germans are less skilled in the art of
mockery than the British.
After their breakthrough with Shockheaded Peter, a peculiar and disturbing interpretation of the German
pedagogic drama, „Der Struwwelpeter“, various recordings, long tours through Eastern and Western Europe, the
US, Australia, Japan, and last year´s successful CD „Circus Songs“ the narrators of lunacy are touring again. They
bring with them „The Brothel To The Cemetery“ a CD which was previously only on sale at performances. The
songs amalgamate the spirit of punk and the passion of chansons, revive forgotten gypsy music and the songs of
troubadours. They sound like Victorian Music Hall and remind us of speak-easies or soirèes with Kurt Weill and
Lotte Lenya.
The Tiger Lillies
‘Criminal Castrates’, an Anarchic, Brechtian Blues-Trio
This extraordinary trio is fronted by magnificent singer Martyn Jaques who trained as an opera singer with a
castrato voice of heartbreaking beauty. He is accompanied by drummer Adrian Huge whose appearance was
described by David Byrne as a James Joyce on drums, and double bass player Adrian Stout.
Jaques plays the accordion and sings savage and passionate songs about prostitutes, drug addicts and losers, his
voice soaring and growling like a possessed man, his eyes rolling up and his head wrenching from side to side.
Ken Campbell described Jaques’ appearance as that of a criminal castrato with his Dickensian-style clothes, long
ponytail and bowler hat. His corrosive lyrics and astonishing voice make an indelible impression. Jaques sings
about life at the bottom end of contemporary Britain with the voice of an angel.
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Their music is a startling mixture of opera, gypsy music and left bank Paris. The emotional charge and raw
passion makes this band stand out. They achieved great critical acclaim not only as a band but also as the
musical force behind Shockheaded Peter. The Tiger Lillies have stunned and amazed audiences world-wide for
the past 11 years with their mix of Brechtian blues, opera, black comedy and chanson.
Martyn Jaques - Vocals, Accordion
Jaques is the founder of The Tiger Lillies and spent much of his formative years training his voice while living in
London’s Soho. His songs describe pimps, prostitutes, drug addicts, losers and other weird characters in lurid
detail. He is the musical director of Shockheaded Peter and his adaptation of the text is now published as a book
called „The Ultimate Shockheaded Peter“. He once placed a pig’s head with a cigarette in its nose on an altar of
a church in Wales and had to leave the village at night for fear of being lynched by an angry mob.
Adrian Huge - Drums, Percussion, Toys
‘A James Joyce on drums’ exclaimed David Byrne when he saw Adrian Huge in The Tiger Lillies. Adrian had
worked in a butcherís, at pie shops, banks, motorcycle shops and as a car mechanic before co-founding Doverís
only surreal comedy ensemble, „Uncle Lumpy And The Fish Doctors“. The group floundered shortly after arriving
in London in 1989 that coincided with the formation of The Tiger Lillies and the start of his bashing re-cycled
drums, toys and kitchen-ware. He had once done a gig in the Czech Republic expecting to find proper drums for
his performance, only to be given kitchen utensils to play on. Not deterred, he delivered an amazing performance
that night, armed only with pots and pans.
Adrian Stout - Double bass, Vocals
Adrian Stout had played blues, jazz and country music in various well- and lesser-known bands throughout the
UK, Europe and India. He recorded two albums for blues diva, Dana Gillespie, before being co-opted by The
Tiger Lillies for the 1995 Edinburgh Festival. A once serious musician has since found himself dancing in
Lederhosen, making love to inflatable sheep and dressing as a cheap prostitute. He designed and maintains the
websites of The Tiger Lillies and Shockheaded Peter.
www.tigerlillies.com
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The Tiger Lillies : Lyrics
Spit Bucket
Promised Land
The Brothel to the Cemetary
Heaven to Hell
I don't know why we're singing
Nobody hears
I don't know why we're happy sometimes
While we're full of fear
I thought I'd be happy in heaven
I thought it would be swell
I thought I'd be happy in heaven
In fact I'm as unhappy as hell
Then you take us by the hand
Lead us to the promised land
The harps, they all bore me
St. Peter's jokes are a farce
The angels look down their noses
because I'm from a different class
I don't know where we're going
And for how many years
I don't know why it's hot outside
And so cold in here
Then you take us by the hand
Lead us to the promised land
I don't know why we're smiling
The world's full of tears
I don't know why it's hot outside
And so cold in here
Then you take us by the hand
Lead us to the promised land
St. Mathews discovered religion
He converts people every day
Whenever he gets near me
I tell him to go away
And God, he's a miserable bastard
He's always making up rules
I'm terribly disillusioned
I think he's a silly old fool
I thought I'd be happy in heaven
But in fact I'm unhappy as hell
The Brothel to the Cemetary
Nightingale
Slow death to the nightingale
His voice would always fail
In tenement towers
and on rails
And all of these praising words
They all seem so absurd, so absurd
Your poverty you declare
The paint blisters on your stairs
The dampness in your bones is always there
And all of these praising words
Well, they all seem so absurd, so absurd
Ever thought that you would be
This washed up and lonely
This washed up and lonely
This lonely
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Bad Blood and Blasphemey
Crack Of Doom
The Brothel to the Cemetary
Alone with the moon
And so your life's been a success
And you have pleasure in excess
Don't worry it will all end soon
The crack of doom is coming soon
And so your future's looking bright
And you've reached the giddy heights
Don't worry it will soon end
It is all shallow and pretend
Searching for sunlight, there in your room.
Trolling for one light, there in the gloom
You dream of a better day, alone with the moon.
The crack of doom is coming soon
And so your life
Your life has failed
You've made the progress of a snail
Don't worry you'll get your revenge
For we're all equal in the end
The small and mighty all the same
This life a shallow, facile game
Where every empire turns to dust
And every ego will be crushed
And every dream, hope and desire
Is just a flicker in the fire
And that fire it will consume
The crack of doom is coming soon…
All things are nothing, there in your tomb
All things are nothing, assured is your doom.
You dream of a better day, alone with the moon.
The laughing and joking, they all end too soon
Forgotten memories, forgotten tunes
You dream of a better day, alone with the moon.
That day, it's coming soon,
Alone with the moon, Alone with the moon
The Brothel to the Cemetary
Russians
It's pissing down with rain
The dogs they all do howl
Just beneath the surface, the faces all do scowl
Selling off an empire, they sell it by the pound
The Russians in the market square
Give him 15 Deutschmarks for an old red hat
He will sell you the coat off of his back
And he's looking handsome and he's looking sad
The Russian in the market square
The Russian in the market
The Russian in the market square
He'll tell you stories about his past
He'll tell you stories if you ask
And he's looking handsome and he's looking sad
The Russians in the market square
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CAB Productions SA
Av. du Grey 123 - CH 1018 Lausanne - Tél. +41 21 641 04 80 Fax +41 21 641 04 89
[email protected] - www.cabproductions.ch
Founded in 1984 by Jean-Louis Porchet and Gérard Ruey, CAB Productions has produced feature films (more than 40), TVfilms and documentaries including the trilogy "Trois couleurs: Bleu-Blanc-Rouge" by Krzysztof Kieslowski, Claude
Chabrol's "Merci pour le chocolat" and "Rien ne va plus" and Alain Tanner's films. CAB Productions received the Swiss
Film Prize 2004 and 2005 for best feature film for "Mein Name ist Bach" by Dominique de Rivaz and "Tout un hiver sans
feu" by Greg Zglinski.
In pre-production:
- LE MAÎTRE DU TEMPS by Greg Zglinski / Feature film
- LE GROS by Bruno Deville / Feature film
- LA DUREE D'UN INSTANT by Germinal Roaux / Feature film
- KEINE SPUR by Niklaus Hilber / Feature film
- REFRACTAIRE by Nicolas Steil / Feature film
- LE PAYSAGE INTERIEUR (LEARNING CENTER EPFL – SANAA) by Pierre Maillard / Documentary
In postproduction:
- BAM – Railroad to nowhere by Jouni Hiltunen / Documentary
LUFTBUSINESS by Dominique de Rivaz / Feature film
ICEBERGS by Germinal Roaux / Short film
ALAIN TANNER – PAS COMME SI, COMME CA by Pierre Maillard / Documentary
RETOUR A GOREE by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud / Documentary with Youssou N'Dour
2007
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2006
- LA LISTE DE CARLA by Marcel Schüpbach / Documentary with Carla Del Ponte
- LE MAÎTRE DU ZODIAQUE by Claude-Michel Rome / TV serie / Executive production in Switzerland
- POUR L'AMOUR DU CIEL by Maria Nicollier / Documentary with Claude Nicollier
2005
- LE GYMNASE DU SOIR by Stéphanie Chuat & Véronique Reymond / Documentary
- BIEN DEGAGE DERRIERE LES OREILLES by Anne Deluz / TV film
2004
- HOMO SAPIENS by Jacques Malaterre / Docudrama / Executive production in Switzerland
- TOUT UN HIVER SANS FEU by Greg Zglinski / Feature film
Festival Venise 2004, in competition ; Best First Film Cinemavvenire et Best Film Signis
Swiss Film Prize 2005 "Best Fiction Film"
- CONFITURE by Lieven Devrauwer / Feature film
Giornate degli autori, Festival Venise 2004
- AGENTS SECRETS by Frédéric Schoendoerffer / Feature film / Executive production in Switzerland
- BLANDINE ET LES SIENS by Emmanuelle de Riedmatten / Documentary
Festival Visions du Réel 2004, Prize TSR
Special Granarolo Prize at Prix Italia
- PAUL S'EN VA by Alain Tanner / Feature film / in coproduction with Filmograph
2003
- MEIN NAME IST BACH by Dominique de Rivaz / Feature film
Festival Locarno 2003, Official Selection, Piazza Grande
Swiss Film Prize 2004 "Best Fiction Film" & "Best Supporting Actor"
- SNOWBOARDER by Olias Barco / Feature film
2002
- B COMME BEJART by Marcel Schüpbach / Feature film
Festival de Venise 2002, Official Selection
2001
- 117-POLICE SECOURS by Raphaël Sibilla / Documentary
- QUE FAISAIENT LES FEMMES PENDANT QUE L'HOMME MARCHAIT SUR LA LUNE by Chris
Vander Stappen / Feature film
2000
- LES DESTINEES SENTIMENTALES by Olivier Assayas / Feature film
Festival de Cannes 2000, Official Selection
- MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT by Claude Chabrol / Feature film
Festivals de Venise, Montréal & Toronto 2000, Official Selection
Montréal 2000 : Prize for Best Actress Isabelle Huppert
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Production company set up in 1986. The company owned by Nicolas Steil and Paul Thiltges produces feature films
in French, German and English, documentaries, animated feature films and animated TV-series.
FILMOGRAPHY of the producers
1) Live Action Films
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Gwyncilla or the Legend of the Dark Ages, Feature film by Andy Bausch, 86 minutes, Completed in 1986
The Living Stone, Documentary by Nicolas Steil, 60 minutes, Completed in 1986
Schacko Klak, Feature film by Frank Hoffmann & Paul Kieffer, 90 minutes, Completed in 1991
Retrato de Familia, Feature film by Luis Galvão Teles, 102 minutes, Completed in 1992
Grosse Gefühle, Feature film by Christof Schertenleib, 115 minutes, Completed in 2000
Mannheim-NY, Documentary by Elke Baur, 90 minutes, Completed in 2001
The Unemployment Club, Feature film by Andy Bausch, 97 minutes, Completed in 2002
SDF Go Home, Feature film by Robert Biver, 120 minutes, Completed in 2003
The Revenge, Feature film by Andy Bausch, 107 minutes, Completed in 2004
Tour de force, Feature film by Antoine Prum & Boris Kremer, 79 minutes, Completed in 2004
Mondo Veneziano, Feature film by Antoine Prum & Boris Kremer, 32 minutes, Completed in 2005
Deepfrozen, Feature film by Andy Bausch, 95 minutes, Completed in 2006
Retour à Gorée, Feature film by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud, 115 minutes, Completed in 2006
Derrière la tête, Short Feature film by Sébastien Fernandes Tasch, 15 minutes, Completed in 2006
Freigesprochen, Feature film by Peter Payer, 100 minutes, Completed in 2007
Luftbusiness, Feature film by Dominique de Rivaz, 90 minutes, Completed in 2007
Contact High, Feature film by Michael Glawogger, 95 minutes, Currently in post-production
Vault, Short Feature film by Fred Neuen, 10 minutes, Currently in post-production
Tausend Ozeane, Feature film by Luki Frieden, 90 minutes, Currently in post-production
Lingo Vino, Short Feature film by Daniel Texter, 35 minutes, Currently in post-production
Réfractaire, Feature film by Nicolas Steil, 100 minutes, Currently in pre-production
2) Animation
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Emil & Fritz, Animated series by Janosch, Completed in 1993
Flitze Firetooth, Animated series by Milos Hlavac, Completed in 1995
A Walk in the Park, Animated short film by Paola Piozzi, Completed in 1996
Carland Cross, Animated series by Michel Pillyser, Completed in 1996
The Blue Arrow, Animated feature film by Enzo d’Alò, 90 minutes, Completed in 1997
The Magic Forest, Animated feature film by Volker Collman, 60 minutes, Completed in 1997
Kirikou and the Sorceress, Animated feature film by Michel Ocelot, 75 minutes, Completed in 1999
Globi and the Stolen Shadows, Animated feature film by Robi Engler, 72 minutes, Completed in 2004
Fog, Short Animated film by Thierry Schiel, 10 minutes, Currently in production
33