An Interview with Susan Gordanshekan

© NEUESUPER | NOMINALFILM | HFF MÜNCHEN | BR
© NEUESUPER | NOMINALFILM | HFF MÜNCHEN | BR
ICE FLOWERS
A film by Susan Gordanshekan
Premiere:
61. International Filmfestival Berlin
Perspektive Deutsches Kino
30 min., Germany 2011, HD, 16:9, Stereo
CONTENT
Synopsis…………………………………… 5
Fact Sheet… ……………………………… 6
CAST
Amir: Arnel Taci…… ……………………… 7
Mrs Osterloh: Renate Grosser… ………… 8
TEAM
Director: Susan Gordanshekan…………… 9
Interview with the director… …………… 10
DOP: Christiane Schmidt…… …………… 12
Dramaturgy: Annette Schönwälder… …… 13
PRODUCTION
Production: NEUESUPER… …………… 14
Production: Nominal-Film… …………… 15
Crew… …………………………………… 16
Contact… ………………………………… 18
SYNOPSIS
A secret burden lies on the shoulders of the young Bosnian Amir. Through
a job in the caregiving field he gets to know Mrs Osterloh who suffers
from dementia. An encounter between two people on the fringe who
hold on to each other for a moment and lose one another soon after.
Amir doesn‘t have a residence permit. His mother denies any contact
to him and he‘s fighting against his own repressed aggressions. A
secret burden lies on the shoulders of this young Bosnian. When he
loses his cleaning job, he finds work in the caregiving field: He starts
taking care of Mrs Osterloh who suffers from dementia. Their everyday life soon consists of small and big struggles – a steady fluctuation between closeness and distance. Mrs Osterloh‘s illness gives Amir
the possibility to play with his selfmade realities. But when one day
Amir is caught up by his past, he reveals his very own secret to Mrs
Osterloh. An encounter between two people on the fringe who hold
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on to each other for a moment and lose one another soon after.
FACT SHEET
Duration……………………………………………… 30 min
Format… ………………………………… HD 1920x1080p
Sound………………………………… Dolby Digital Stereo
Language…… ……………………………… German, Bosnian
Subtitle… …………………………………………… English
Country of production… ………………………… Germany
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Year of production……………………………………… 2011
© NEUESUPER | NOMINALFILM | HFF MÜNCHEN | BR
ARNEL TACI
as AMIR
Arnel Taci was born in Bosnia in 1986. He had his first big-screen
appearance in the movie “Paule und Julia” by Torsten Löhn in
2001. Detlev Buck’s “Knallhart” and Armin Völcker’s “Leroy” have
been Arnel Taci’s biggest movie projects up to now. He became
known as a TV actor for his continuous appearance as Costa in
the award-winning series “Türkisch für Anfänger”. Furthermore,
the actor, who lives in Berlin, played in “Blackout – Die Erinnerung
ist tödlich” (director: Peter Keglevic), “Einer bleibt sitzen” (director: Tim Trageser) and “Allein unter Töchtern”, among others.
In 2009, he played in Oliver Schmitz’s “Allein unter Schülern”, as
well as the series “Doctor’s Diary” and Dror Zahavi’s “Zivilcourage” with Götz George. He had another appearance together with
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Götz George in “Schimanski – Schuld und Sühne” in 2010.
© NEUESUPER | NOMINALFILM | HFF MÜNCHEN | BR
RENATE GROSSER
as MRS OSTERLOH
Renate Grosser had her stage debut in 1949, playing in “Theater im Zimmer” in Hamburg. Thereafter, she had permanent
positions at the theaters in Bonn (1950-1952), Tübingen (19541956) and at the Müncher Kammerspiele (1958-1963). Apart
from tours, she also had freelance engagements in Wuppertal,
Bochum and Bern. But she also played in motion pictures frequently: Her major roles were in Vilsmaier’s “Herbstmilch” and
“Rama Dama”, “Eine hübscher als die andere” (Axel von Ambesser), “Liebe mit 50” (Günter Gräwert), “Die Novizin” (Anno
Saul), “Der große Bellheim” (Dieter Wedel) and “Gift” (Peter
Schulze-Rohr). On TV, she could regularly be seen in the detec-
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tive series “Der Alte”, “Derrick”, “Der Kommissar” and “Tatort”. © by Susan Gordanshekan
SUSAN GORDANSHEKAN
Director
Born in Kassel in 1978, grown up in Hanover. 1998-2003 studies
of communication design at the University of Applied Sciences
and Arts Hanover. Specialization in multimedia design, thesis
in 2003 with the documentary film “Kann man Musik sehen?”.
2001 year abroad at the École des Beaux-Arts Saint-Étienne in
France, major in sculpting and video design. Internship at the
multimedia agency Eurasset in Lyon. From 2002 to 2004 various
freelance activities at the Norddeutscher Rundfunk. 2004 internship in the story development department at Herrmannfilm
Berlin. Since 2004 studies in documentary film and television
journalism at the University of Television and Film Munich.
FILMOGRAPHY (SELECTION)
“Garçons manqués” (2007)
Documentary about adolescents in a suburb of Paris | 34 min
in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Stiftung
Awards: Documentary award of the Interfilm Short Film
Fictional short film | 13 min
“Kann man Musik sehen?” (2003)
Documentary about blindness | 52 min
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“Tarof ” (2005)
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Festival Berlin, FBW rating: “besonders wertvoll”
An Interview with Susan Gordanshekan
«A part from life»
Your film is about a Bosnian in Germany who gets to know
lephone calls throughout the film symbolize the loss
an old woman suffering from dementia while in search of
of his own roots to me. Amir is in the role of an out-
work. A soft friendship develops between the two of them.
sider: the path to his homeland is cut off, just as the
How did you get the idea for this topic? What has motivated
path to a normal life in Germany.
vertheless identify with each other. Two people that
are on the fringes of society and can thus support
each other. I have drawn my inspiration for the protagonists from a lot of similar fates in the real world.
During my Freiwilliges Soziales Jahr I looked after a
woman who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. Since
I lost all my grandparents at the age of 8 and I had
hardly ever seen them before, this encounter was very
memorable to me. On the one hand, there was the
high age, which I had hardly ever encountered up to
then, on the other hand the disease, which affected
the behavior of this person in a way that was completely strange to me. Every day with her was like the
discovery of a new, unknown world. Just as she was
strange to me, she was strange to herself, she was like
a prisoner in her own body – it was a very tragic situation. In the character of the Bosnian Amir I wanted
to narrate the emotion of rootlessness. As I am the
daughter of Iranian immigrants, I have been confronted with rootlessness and strangeness all my life. The
story of an illegal immigrant seemed to me like an
intensification of this emotion because these people
undergo the opposite of integration – an isolation,
out of which there is practically no escape. Amir’s te-
At first, it was the characters that became more and
more tangible through my memories and my research. I did some months of research on people living in Germany without a residence permit. For this
purpose, I stayed in a contact point for illegal immigrants for one evening every week. I waited for people
to come in and tell me their story. Then the plot gradually developed, on which I worked together with
Annette Schönwälder (dramatic composition) for
about a year. A lot of different versions emerged. In
the end, it had become a very simple, straight-forward story, which draws its profundity on the characters. The casting took about half a year. It wasn’t easy
to find an elderly lady and a young Bosnian that fit
the roles. I wanted to find actors who felt drawn to
the role and could also draw on their own experience.
The shooting took 14 days – a long time for a short
film of 30 minutes length. But we wanted to take this
time to give the actors a lot of creative space. Often
we shot long sequence shots, in which we gave room
to hazard and spontaneity. Indeed, there are a couple
of scenes in the film in which things happened that
weren’t agreed upon before, but that found a use in
the editing procedure. I pursued this deliberately du-
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I wanted to describe contrary characters that can ne-
Can you briefly outline the genesis of the film?
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you to make this film?
ring the shooting, in order to reach a higher level of
What meaning does the title “Ice flowers” (“Ice flowers”)
authenticity and vitality of the characters.
bear – provided you are willing to share this secret?
What makes this film special in your eyes?
I wanted to find a metaphorical title that contains the
I think that the film draws its energy on the closeness
to the characters. This closeness arose, on the one
hand, due to the way of staging and, on the other
hand, through the imagery of the film. Christiane
word “Eis” (“ice”). Ice stands for the societal coldness
in which the protagonists live. Furthermore, a frostwork is something delicate and fragile – that can
grow despite this coldness.
Schmidt (camera) and I decided to use a camera that
What kind of films do you want to make in the future? Do
stays very close to the protagonists and has a streak
you already have any specific ideas?
of documentary. Christiane wanted to enable physically tangible closeness through her camera work.
The emotions of restlessness, uneasiness and being
chased were supposed to become palpable. In addition, the film conveys a certain harshness, has rough
edges – in editing, as well as in staging and imagery.
What was the greatest challenge during the project?
My next project will be my graduation project at the
HFF in Munich. Although I still feel devoted to documentary film, I’d feel like making a fictional fulllength movie. I think that a realistic manner of representation will have priority in this project, too. I’d
like to try to create characters that one could just as
well meet “at the corner of the street”.
The greatest challenge was to fill the script with so
much life, so that it would seem like a part of the
protagonist’s life. It was very important to me that
the characters take on a life of their own which they
draw on themselves. Another challenge was the financial terms under which the film was made. It was
difficult to satisfy our high personal standards despi-
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te a very tight budget.
© by Christiane Schmidt
CHRISTIANE SCHMIDT
Director of Photography
Born in Lüneburg 1978, studies of political science and
science of art at the Carl von Ossietzky-University, Oldenburg, 1998-2003, lived in Ireland and Belgium.
Since 2004, studies of documentary film, majoring in Cinematography at the University of Television and Film Munich, lives and works in Berlin.
FILMOGRAPHY (SELECTION)
„The Lingurar Family“ WT (2011)
documentary | co-directing and dop | Full HD | shooting
„Berlin“ (2009/2010)
experimental film | co-directing and dop | 8mm/16mm | 30min
„Der Schwarze Grund“ (2009)
documentary | director: Jonas Marowski | co-dop |
DV & DigiBeta | 53min
„comme tout autre humain“ (2006-2008)
„Grenze“ (2005)
short-feature | co-directing and dop | 16mm | 10min
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German human rights prize - student category, 2008
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documentary | co-directing and dop | DV | 55min
© by Annette Schönwälder
ANNETTE SCHÖNWÄLDER
Dramaturgy
1982 Annette Schönwälder was born in Munich. 2001-2006
German Language and Literature Studies at the Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität Munich. Since 2006 student at the University
of Television and Film Munich with a major in dramaturgy.
FILMOGRAPHY (SELECTION)
„Das ästhetische Gewissen“ (2006)
short | author & director
„Viel Glück“ (2007)
short | author & director
„Heldenschwestern“ (2010)
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documentary | concept and direction together with Karin Becker
NEUESUPER
KINO | Com | TV
Simon Amberger | Korbinian Dufter | Rafael Parente
NEUESUPER
Production
NEUE SUPER is a Munich based production company founded
in 2010 by Simon Amberger, Korbinian Dufter and Rafael Parente, students of the Academy of Television and Film Munich.
Apart from concept work and production of high-class advertisement they focus on developent and production of feature films.
At the moment the feature comedy KAISERSCHMARRN
and several cinema commercials are in production, the international co-production THE SAME WAY is in the process of preproduction and a number of long feature films
in development. Several short movies, commercials and social spots are in post-production and on festival-tour.
So far productions of NEUESUPER producers have
been screened at the Next Generation Role in Cannes, at
the International Filmfestival Hof, the Shocking Shorts
Awards as well as the Documentary Festival in Kassel.
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Visit www.neuesuper.de
Maximilian Plettau
NOMINAL FILM
Production
Nominal Film, founded in 2007 together with associate Marten
Schnier and run since summer 2010 by sole owner Maximilian
Plettau, is highly interested in the thin line between fiction and
documentary and therefore is currently working on a number of
documentaries and feature films and mixed forms between the
genres. One of which - „Ice flowers“ by Susan Gordanshekan- will
be shown at Berlinale „Perspective German Cinema“ this year
2011 and another one -“Kinderspiel“ by Lars Kornhoff -will be
shown at Max-Ophüls Preis Filmfestival this year 2011. Maximilian Plettau is also working on a feature length documentary over
illegal gold diggers in Mongolia - „Die Farbe des Goldes“ by Sven
Zellner- which is a TV-Coproduction for Cinema between Nominal Film & TV Production and Bayerischer Rundfunk. The film
„Comeback“ by Maximilian Plettau had a Cinema Exploitation in
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Germany in 2008 and was recently released on DVD in the US.
CAST & CREW
Amir… …………………………………………… Arnel Taci
Mrs Osterloh… ……………………………… Renate Grosser
Milan… ……………………………………… Denis Mehicic
Son………………………………………… Butz Ulrich Buse
and many others
director & screenplay………………… Susan Gordanshekan
producers… …………………………… Maximilian Plettau
…………………………………………… Simon Amberger
…………………………………………… Korbinian Dufter
……………………………………………… Rafael Parente
director of photography………………… Christiane Schmidt
camera assistent……………………………… Didier Guillain
dramaturgy…………………………… Annette Schönwälder
editors………………………………… Susan Gordanshekan
……………………………………………… Bernd Hantke
production manager… ………………… Christian Füllmich
first AD… …………………………………… Pary El-Qalqili
art director… ……………………………… Katrin Gerhäuser
make up & costume designer…… …………Alexandra Kühnel
boom man… ………………………………… Peter Kautzsch
……………………………………………… Marco Olbrich
score… ………………………………… Sebastian R. Fischer
sounddesign… …………………………… Clemens Becker
main mix……………………………………… Gerhard Auer
line producer… ………………………… Ferdinand Freising
……………………………………………… Mareike Lueg
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comissioning editor… ………… Dr. Claudia Gladziejewski
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project supervision……………………… Prof. Heiner Stadler
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© NEUESUPER | NOMINALFILM | HFF MÜNCHEN | BR
CONTACT
DIRECTOR
Susan Gordanshekan
[email protected]
Mobil: +49 (0) 177 44 91 590
NEUESUPER
NEUESUPER Kino | Com | TV
Amberger Dufter Parente GbR
Preysingstraße 24
D-81667 München
[email protected]
www.neuesuper.de
NOMINAL FILM
Maximilian Plettau
Bavariafilmplatz 7
D-82031 Grünwald
Fon: +49 (0) 89 64981 404
Fax: +49 (0) 3212 8512274
[email protected]
www.nominalfilm.com
www.eisblumen-film.de