Racconti #1 South Tyrol Script Lab
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Content Forwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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About RACCONTI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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BLS – Production preparation funding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Tutors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Participants and projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
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Dear Filmmakers, nearly 160 screenplay projects vying for just ten spots: this was the very gratifying outcome of the call for submissions to participate in BLS’s first script development workshop, RACCONTI # 1. The word racconti comes from the Italian word raccontare, meaning “to tell”. This is exactly the point of this project: we want to encourage screenwriters to tell stories stemming from and about South Tyrol. This land abounds with stories that need only be discovered and brought to life on screen: we have funny stories, sad stories, raucous stories, and subdued stories. This is indeed the goal of RACCONTI: to develop interesting film material that is inexorably intertwined with this land and will further kindle interest in South Tyrol as a film location. In this brochure, we have compiled the best stories from our first script development workshop into a collection of creative film ideas about South Tyrol for you. We really hope you enjoy reading them.
Thomas Widmann Secretary of Economic Affairs
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One call for submission... ...156 answers: we were surprised and extremely pleased by the strength of response to our announcement for “Screenwriters wanted in South Tyrol”. As we reviewed the many script ideas submitted to us from several different countries, we received a second delightful surprise: the material was extremely varied, ranging from love stories to thrillers. The marked professionalism of the writers also struck us immediately. For our international panel of experts, having such a wealth of ideas actually made choosing the best ones all the more difficult. They finally managed to select a total of eleven script ideas as particularly promising. The writers then developed their stories further during the course of a script lab, under the guidance of experienced dramaturges. The stories you find in this brochure are thus the result of a “ripening” process. It is precisely because we know that the development of a film idea must “ripen” – a process that requires not only time but also financial support – that pre-production subsidies are such an important component of South Tyrol’s film funding program. We support producers during the pre-production phase of films that are already in the works: this can, of course, include script development. We can now only hope that one of the stories we have compiled in this brochure will pique your interest as a producer and will, with support from BLS, develop into a screenplay and finally into film.
Ulrich Stofner BLS Director
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Christiana Wertz Head of BLS Film Fund & Commission
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About RACCONTI “Screenwriters wanted in South Tyrol” – under this motto, BLS launched the writers’ support program RACCONTI #1 in the fall of 2011, primarily to encourage writers from the German and Italian-speaking regions to submit ideas for screenplays with a reference to South Tyrol. We weren’t looking for finished screenplays, but rather script ideas, which could then, with the professional assistance and support from BLS, be further developed. The idea behind the initiative was to encourage as much interesting and ambitious film material as possible, which have a reference to South Tyrol or, to some extent, have a connection to the area, in order to bond film topics to the region. Additionally, RACCONTI intends to support talented writers and help them to develop a network within the industry. The new BLS initiative got off to a rapid start: almost 160 authors took note of the call for entries and submitted their ideas, making the final selection of 11 screenplay ideas, from the wealth of creative projects submitted, all the more difficult for the international panel of experts in the jury. The selected authors were to receive a tutorial with international dramaturges and screenplay experts to further develop their ideas to a marketable treatment. The author of the most promising script would be awarded a stipend for a six-week research stay in South Tyrol and receive further financial support. Due to the variety of subjects and the quality of the material presented, the jury selected a total of 11 script ideas, and awarded the first prize to two projects exaequo. “Zweitland” is the working title of a drama by the South Tyrolean author Michael Kofler that convinced the jury. His story is based in South Tyrol in the 1960s and deals with the events surrounding the bombings by the South Tyrol Freedom Committee. “The author exhibits a keen understanding for scenic composition and has developed a promising story, which is dramaturgically well-structured and allows freedom for the further development of the characters,” was the jury’s comment. Kofler received a 2000 Euro award for his submission. The scholarship for the six-week research stay in South Tyrol went to the Berlinbased author Claas Junge for his idea for a South Tyrolean “mountain western”. In “Crossing the Green Line” three adolescents take off on a smuggler’s adventure to save their families and their village in the Gsieser Valley. The jury’s comment on the script: “A dramaturgically well-developed story about love and betrayal with an original storyline which reaches its climax with the smuggling of an entire herd of cattle.” Both prizes will be awarded during the Bolzano Film Festival. We would like to thank the Forst Brewery for sponsoring these awards! Another 12 writers were selected, together with the two first prize winners, to further develop their stories, under the guidance of professional tutors, during a three-day BLS Script Lab in the Sarn Valley at the end of January. Six of the selected 8
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writers were from Italy (two of which from South Tyrol), six from Germany, one from Norway, and one writer from Ireland rounded off the international group. Most of the participants were graduates of film academies or renowned script workshops. The topics ranged from coming-of-age stories in South Tyrol, to new perspectives of the Ötzi phenomenon, to a documentary accompaniment of volunteer workers at a farm located 1240 meters above sea level. At the end of the Script Lab, the three tutors were impressed by the creativity of the writers entrusted to their professional support – and guided them with expertise and enthusiasm to the next stage in the development process. But the support offered by BLS to the RACCONTI participants goes far beyond the workshop itself: the writers are accompanied in the dramaturgical development of their scripts even after the three-day Script Lab. An inherent part of the support program is the online tutoring during the entire development phase and an additional workshop in June, designed to the writers’ individual needs. The goal is to develop these treatments and screenplays and present them to the market in the summer of 2012 so that interested producers can submit these projects for BLS pre-production funding in the fall of 2012. For more information on RACCONTI please contact Sandra Buchta (buchta@bls.info) who is responsible for the concept and supervision of the writers’ program, or Carmen Cian (cian@bls.info) who coordinates the program at BLS.
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BLS – Production preparation funding You’re interested in further developing one of the projects presented here? Then let us answer a few of the most important questions regarding potential production preparation funding! What does BLS production preparation funding encompass? With this type of funding, support is provided for project development and production preparation, in particular. In exceptional cases – for example in the case of projects which were developed within the framework of RACCONTI #1 – support is also provided for screenplay development. One of the most important prerequisites for production preparation funding is that the project can prove a cultural reference to South Tyrol, thus making it suitable, to a great extent, for shooting in South Tyrol at a later date. The Cultural Reference The cultural reference of a project can be defined as the material itself, but also as film professionals, in particular the producer, writer or director. The cultural reference can also be defined in relation to a particular subject matter and/or personality or character, which has current, social, historical, political, economic, scientific or cultural relevance to the region of South Tyrol. The mere fact that a project is deemed suitable for a film shoot in South Tyrol, however, cannot be recognized as a cultural reference. With the framework of the application process, you have the possibility to highlight and substantiate this cultural reference, in particular in a Producer’s Note, Writer’s Note, Director’s Note and, of course, within the treatment or the screenplay, should a screenplay already be in existence. Who is eligible? As a rule, production companies are eligible to submit applications for the BLS funding model. In the case of a co-production, the application is generally submitted by the majority producer. If a South Tyrolean producer is involved in a national or international co-production, a further exception takes effect. In this case, the South Tyrolean producer is to submit the application, regardless of the producer’s status within the co-production group. Please note that this information pertains primarily to feature film productions. In cases of projects planned as television co-productions, you are advised to seek consultation with a BLS funding consultant.
From Application to Disbursement Applications for production preparation funding may be made, revised and submitted at any time via the BLS online portal. Applications will be considered during the following period of review. Personal consultation with a BLS funding consultant is required prior to application submission. In order to be eligible for consideration for production preparation funding, the following supporting documents are required: · a synopsis · a calculation of preparation measures · a description of the measures · a financing plan of the production preparation · an exploitation concept · a 10-page (minimum) to 12-page (maximum) treatment · the screenplay (if already in existence) Projects to receive funding will be determined within six to eight weeks after commencement of the period of review. Disbursement of the funding amount is made in three installments. The first partial installment (50 % of the funding amount) is disbursed upon completion of the financing. The second partial installment (25 % of the funding amount) is disbursed following an audit of expenses and a report of the further development of the project; the third partial installment (25 % of the funding amount) is disbursed following an audit of the final report, results and total expenditure.
Application Deadlines Application deadlines for the year 2012 are: 1 February 2012 (Funding decisions will be made on 16 April 2012) 2 May 2012 (Funding decisions will be made on 25 June 2012) 19 September 2012 (Funding decisions will be made on 12 November 2012)
Extent and Type of Funding Within the framework of the BLS funding model, a maximum of 50% of the calculated production preparation costs can be supported, not exceeding a maximum of 50,000 Euros per project. Accumulations with other sources of funding beyond the 50 % limit are also possible. Production preparation funding does not require a specific regional effect. BLS provides funding in the form of non-repayable financial grants – regardless of the economic success of the production. 12
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Tutors
Giacomo Durzi Screenwriter, Director and Producer
Education · Graduated at the National School of Cinema of Roma (Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia) · Master Media ARISTA (European master for writers and story-editors) · Graduated in LAW at the University of Bologna · Attended a scholarship for screenwriting and directing at the London International Film School Selected working experiences As a screenwriter he wrote several TV movies and TV series for Italian TV (RAI and Mediaset) and has been working for the main production companies such as Tao Due (“Distretto di polizia”, “RIS”), Grundy-Freemantle Italy (“Liberi di giocare”, “La nuova squadra”) Cattleya, Publispei (“I Cesaroni”), and Magnolia (Camera cafè”, “Vicky tv”). Recently, he wrote the Italian adaptation and first episodes of the series “In treatment” (Wildside). As an editorial consultant and content developer, he worked for NBC Universal Italy and Fox International Channels, launching new channels, selecting and developing the productions for Fox Life and History Channel. He also worked as head writer and script consultant for Mediavivere-Endemol Italy and Itc Movie, developing new formats for TV series. As a director, he wrote and directed several documentaries for Italian and European broadcasters such as RAI, The History Channel, NBC Universal Network, CHANNEL 4 and MTV. As a producer, he produced short films, documentaries and features such as “L’estate di mio fratello” by Pietro Reggiani (in competition in many international festivals, won several prizes such as the Jury Prize at the Tribeca Festival in 2005), and “Non pensarci” by Gianni Zanasi, in competition at the 2007 Venice Film Festival. He is a member of the “Associazione 100Autori” board, the most important Italian guild for screenwriters, and of the executive board of “Giornate degli Autori-Venice Days” of the Venice International Film Festival.
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Tom Schlesinger
Daniel Speck
Screenwriter, Dramaturg and Screenwriting Consultant
Screenwriter
Tom Schlesinger was the story consultant on Nowhere in Africa, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, and Beyond Silence, nominated for an Academy Award. Tom was also the story consultant on the HBO documentaries Prom Night in Mississippi, with Morgan Freeman, and the Emmy-nominated, A Small Act. He is currently working as a story consultant on the The Night Trilogies with M. Night Shyamalan. As a story consultant, Tom’s clients have included Star Wars producer Robert Watts, Golden Girls Executive Producer Marc Sotkin, Francis Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios, Miramax, Universal Studios, Columbia Pictures, Constantin Film Production, X-Filme, TV-60 and numerous international studios and broadcasters. Tom has taught screenwriting seminars for Pixar Animation Studios, Lucasfilm Ltd., the American Film Institute, the Writers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America, and the National Film Schools in Berlin and Munich. Tom co-created The Stranger, a mythic, action-adventure television, series for Moroccan television, which will be broadcast next October. And he wrote the feature film Red Dune, which will be shot next year near Laayoune, Morocco. Tom facilitates Human Potential seminars including Art as Transformation at UCLA, Myths, Dreams and Movies at the Esalen Institute, the Saybrook Institute and The California Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, and Creative Flow: the Inner Reaches of Outer Space, at the Academy of Art in Munich.
Screenplay (Selection) · “Maria, ihm schmeckt’s nicht!” (Maria, He Doesn’t Like It!) – Film, comedy based on the Jan Weiler bestseller, Producer: Claussen+Wöbke+Putz · “Zimtstern und Halbmond” (Cinnamon Star and Half Moon), Christmas film, family comedy, Claussen + Wöbke + Putz for Bavarian Broadcasting/Degeto · “Meine verrückte Türkische Hochzeit” (Kiss Me, Kismet) – Romantic comedy RAT PACK for PRO7 - Adolf Grimme Award (2007) - Bavarian TV Award (2007), best screenplay - Jury Prize, 3sat Audience Award at the Baden-Baden Television Film Festival (2006) · “Fischer fischt Frau” (Fischer Seeks Wife) – Film, romantic comedy, Constantin TV for ZDF · “Im Club der Millionäre” (In the Millionaire’s Club), Thriller, Bioskop Film for PRO 7, Co-Writer: Keith Cunningham
Partial Filmography, Writer / Consultant · 2012 “Moderation Town” – Web Series, Stitch Media, Story Consultant “Blood Relative” – Documentary, Nimisha Mukerji (prod-dir), Story Consultant · 2010 “The Stranger” – TV series, Thelsem Productions, Co-creator “Ayla” – Feature Film, TV60, Script Consultant “A Small Act”, Documentary, Harambee Media, Story Consultant · 2009 “Prom Night in Mississippi” – Documentary, Sunrise Films, Story Consultant “Bonded Parallels” – Feature Film, Parallels Film, Co-writer · 2008 “Heart of Fire” – Feature Film, TV60, Script Consultant
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Visiting lecturer and dramaturg for, among others · Munich University For Television And Film · Cologne International Film School · Atelier Ludwigsburg-Paris · German Film and Television Academy In Berlin · Munich Screenplay Workshop · Munich University Of Music and the Performing Arts · Institute for Applied Creative Psychology, Munich Current projects · “Was Männer wollen” (What Men Want) – Film, romantic comedy, Yellow Bird Pictures · “Antonio im Wunderland” (Antonio in Wonderland) – Film, comedy based on the bestseller by Jan Weiler, Bavaria Film · “Zu mir oder zu dir?” (My Place or Yours?) – Romantic comedy, Network movie For ZDF · “Soul Man” – TV series, dramedy, Sat.1
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Participants 1240 metres above sea level Alexandra Kaufmann and Ane Helga Lykka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Crossing the Green Line Claas Junge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Escape to the Mountains Christoph Busche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Fräulein Caterina Carone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 ICE MAN Brendan Foley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Princess of Marmots Anke Klaaßen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Romeo and Julian Gabi Arnold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Small Fish Enrica Gatto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 The Diary Pascal Yorks and Matthias Lintner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 The Peak Reflection Cristina Gadotti and Erica Gianesini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Zweitland – Second Hand Land Michael Kofler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
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Alexandra Kaufmann & Ane Helga Lykka
1240 METRES ABOVE SEA LEVEL Genre: Documentary
Alexandra Kaufmann
Bolzano, Italy
Name
City of residence
+49 (0)178 69 66 102
ali.kaufmann@gmx.de
Phone
+39 34 84 638 841
–
Phone
Agency
Ane Helga Lykka
Bolzano, Italy
Name
City of residence
+39 32 99 592 388
anelykka@gmail.com
Phone
–
–
Website
Agency
Biography Alexandra Kaufmann was born in 1979 in Munich, Germany. After completing her studies of economics in Munich, San Sebastian and Cape Town, she taught German at a language school in Padova while studying journalism at a long distance university in Berlin. Back in Munich she worked as an assistant director for a documentary at Bayerisches Fernsehen and took screenwriting courses with Martin Thau, Keith Cunningham and Tom Schlesinger at the Münchner Filmwerkstatt. She worked in various short film productions and directed image films. In 2010 she began her studies at the ZeLIG School for Documentary, Television and New Media in Bolzano, Italy. During her studies she has been researching episodes of the TV series “Gernstl in Bayern,” a series produced by Megaherz Film und Fernsehen for Bayerisches Fernsehen. Ane Helga Lykka was born in 1986 in Hammerfest, Norway. In high school she studied Media and Communication. She went on to study documentary, editing and screenwriting in the eight-month foundation course at the European Film College in Denmark. The following year she worked there as a teacher’s assistant, mainly connected to the editing and directing department. Subsequently she studied Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2010. While studying there she also worked as an editor, an editing assistant and a transcriber for various production companies. Since 2010 she has been studying at ZeLIG School for Documentary, Television and Media in Bolzano, Italy, specializing in project development and directing.
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Every summer strangers navigate the steep mountain roads to visit farms in South Tyrol and ease the farmers’ burdens by using their hands and hearts. For 16 years Verein Freiwillige Arbeitseinsätze in Südtirol (a South Tyrolean volunteer association) has been arranging these exchanges to help farmers maintain their existence. How does a meeting between a farming family and a stranger change the relationships involved?
Synopsis When your work is dependent on your physical strength, and your home is your work place, an accident could have a huge impact on you and your family. And when your self-image is linked to self-sufficiency and the pride of being self-reliant, accepting help when an accident happens is just as big a blow as the injury itself. Life on the small mountainside farms can be a constant struggle. But with this way of life also comes great freedom that city dwellers would envy; in living close to nature, not relying on much but your own two hands, and following a daily rhythm that you choose, this sensation renders the idea of abandoning generations of laborous work and moving down to a more convenient way of life in the valley as a last resort. “Money is not always the best help” is the motto of Verein Freiwillige Arbeitseinsätze in Südtirol, which organizes the voluntary services for the farmers in South Tyrol. Every year the association sends more than 1600 workers to the mountains, together accomplishing more than 16,000 days of work. Which farms receive this help is based on an intricate point system supported by a good portion of human consideration. It favors remote farms where the land is difficult to cultivate and there are special personal needs. Finding the right volunteer for a specific farm is an invaluable part of the work of the organization. Years have shown that the value of these exchanges goes far beyond the physical work on the farm. That someone lending an ear and sharing moments of crisis reinforces the strength to carry on, and deep friendships are born. “1240 Metres above Sea Level” will be an observational documentary film. Contemplative and warm. Following the rhythm of life on the farm and giving space to the dignity of the people throughout the film. Set in a remote farm in one of the steep mountain sides of South Tyrol, the framework of the story will be a family having a volunteer worker stay with them for a few weeks. The film will dwell on the ties to the farm and the difficulties required to maintain it. The fact that South Tyrol has the lowest percentage of closed farms in all of Europe bears witness to the strong tradition of farming and a well developed system that provides assistance to the farmers. For the farmer’s strong will and determination to continue is born from the love of their land. “1240 Metres above Sea Level” is an optimistic film about a difficult situation troubling family farms everywhere, not only in South Tyrol. Through a human portrait of one of these families, we will explore the impact of a stranger on an intimate situation. What makes one endure the hardship of keeping a workload that has grown too big? And ultimately what makes a good life? 21
Writer’s note We are touched by the fact that farmers in need are being helped by outside volunteers. As we both grew up in farm-based societies we have seen firsthand how the life of farmers entails both joy and hardship. What particularly draws our interest to the volunteer work is the change of the emotional level during their stay – both for the farming families and the volunteers. We believe it is important to maintain different modes of living, to allow farmers to uphold traditions connected to earth in contrast to the fast pace of today’s society. Not as a plight, but as an option. The volunteer interventions are one way of maintaining the possibility to choose, while both parties stand to gain from the exchange.
Filmography Filmography Alexandra Kaufmann: “Schön, dass du da bist” – director, DOP, image film Lebenshilfe, 22’, (2011) “Corpo Giusto” – assistant director (director: Jennifer Norton), Kurzfilm, 18’, (2010) “Stille – das scheue Glück” – assistant director (director: Hans-Günther Kaufmann), documentary, 45’, 2010, BR Filmography Ane Helga Lykka: “Giorni in fiore” – director, documentary, 15’ (2011) “Rust” – writer / director, fiction, 15’ (2006), competed in the main program of Minimalen 2007, European Film College’s contribution to the CILECT prize 2007
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CROSSING THE GREEN LINE
Claas Junge
Genre: Drama
Claas Junge
Berlin, Germany
Name
City of residence
+49 17 17 922 303
claasj@web.de
Phone
–
–
Website
Agency
Biography Claas Junge was born in 1971 in Darmstadt, Germany. He played professional soccer for three years before studying German language and literature (philology), and art history and philosophy at Frankfurt on Main University, and finally adding a PhD in theatre and film sciences. After freelance editorial work for the Hessian radio station, Hessischer Rundfunk, and freelancing as a copy / writer for the design agency, kentbannerbrown, in Frankfurt, he moved to Berlin to work as a trainee for Dramaworks GmbH in Berlin, an agency for developing movie content and film writers and authors. Subsequently he worked as junior producer for three years for PhoenixFilm GmbH in Berlin, supervising different TV series, and then as a storyliner for the soap opera “Eine wie keine” (Sat 1). Since 2010 he has been freelancing as a writer.
Filmography “Hallo Robbie” – Phoenix-Film/ZDF “ (2008-2011) – Producer, 10 episodes of TV series “Unser Charly” – Phoenix-Film/ZDF (2008-2011) – Producer, 34 episodes of TV series “Hallo Robbie” – Phoenix-Film/ZDF (2011) – Pilot script for the re-launch of TV series
Writer’s note This coming-of-age story “Crossing the Green Line” is about friendship, loyalty and betrayal. It is about the elementary conflicts in the world that make a monumental difference when situations become a matter of life and death. The story is based on the key concept and narration pattern of the classical Western, set in the South Tyrol mountains at a time of great political transitions at the beginning of the 20th century. The young heroes of this story are sent on an adventurous journey, leading them away from the innocence of childhood, to the sensations and fears of adulthood. Smuggling is the motif of the story that fascinates me most. The relevance of the story for our times lies in this kind of crossing the line that youth risk in order to be taken seriously. 24
An Italian teenager has to choose between saving her adopted father and betraying her only friends.
Synopsis Gsieser Valley, South Tyrol, 1928. This story begins in Santa Maddalena, a little village near the Italian-Austrian border, where the young Italian Magdalena Montebelli (15) is living with her adopted father Franz Gasser (45) since the tragic death of her parents eight years ago. From early childhood she shares close ties of friendship with two South-Tyrolian brothers, Toni (14) and Georg Thaler (17), sons of the farm laborer and “smuggler king” Johann Thaler (39). On the day the high official Alberto Tozzi (45) from the fascist regime shows up, the orderliness and the calm of Santa Maddalena are shattered. With brutality and torture-like corrupt practices, he effectively diminishes the flourishing smuggling acitivities in the valley. Soon there’s only one single smuggler left who still provides the village with produce – Johann Thaler is the only one who won’t let Tozzi scare him. He continues to cross the border as a Schwärzer to Austria – until the day he does not return home… Together with Magdalena and Toni, Georg, Johann’s high-spirited eldest son takes over the dangerous smuggling business and the job of supplying the village. They are reckless but successful, and soon Georg tries putting together a larger group in order to keep up with the growing quantities they are requested to smuggle. Meanwhile Magdalena’s foster father gets arrested. Tozzi, who thinks he knows what the youths are up to, but cannot prove it, decides to try to bargain with Magdalena. He will free her beloved father if she turns over the boys. Abruptly Magdalena is confronted with a cruel decision: by saving one, she risks ruining the others’ life. The gravity of the situation has become clear to her while the young smugglers still are not aware of the danger they are in. That all changes one day while they are doing business in Kalkstein, Austria, with Karl Mair (56): When a fight breaks out in a tavern they see him drawing a knife, threatening another farmer. Georg is sure that this is his father’s knife... But our six young smugglers accept the terms of the challenge. Under Georg’s lead they try to defy the rules and laws of the mountains, eager to add another legend to the stories about great smugglers: in order to take revenge on Mair, they steal 50 cattle and plan to drive them over the green border, to their home town of Santa Maddalena. While Tozzi is already awaiting them at the border, Magdalena has to make a decision – will she warn her friends in time? How will they react to her betrayal? And will Tozzi fulfill his mission and bring the teen smugglers to justice?
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Escape to the Mountains
Christoph Busche
Genre: Mountain melodrama
Christoph Busche
Munich, Germany
Name
City of residence
+49 17 92 097 578
chrbusche@googlemail.com
Phone
www.christoph-busche.de
Scenario
Website
Agency
Biography Born in 1980 in Heidelberg, Germany, Christoph Busche studied philosophy and performing arts in Munich. He has written and directed several short films. After receiving a Master of Arts, he worked for two years as staff writer for the German TV crime series “K 11 – Kommissare im Einsatz”. In 2009, he received the Drehbuchwerkstatt München scholarship for the development of a feature film and in 2010, he won the Tankred Dorst Screenwriter’s Award. Since 2009, he has been a freelance writer of exposés, treatments and screenplays commissioned by TV 60 Filmproduktion, H&V Entertainment, Enigma Film, Neue Bioskop Film, Sperl Productions, UFA Fernsehproduktion, et al. In 2011, he wrote a stage play based on Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” with new musical lyrics, which premiered at the Salzburg State Theatre.
Filmography “Amokspiel” – thriller, adapted from the novel by Sebastian Fitzek / TV 60 Filmproduktion – in development “Bis sie wiederkommt” – drama, winner of the Tankred Dorst Screenwriter’s Award / Magic Flight Film – in development “Der Totenmaler” – thriller, with Andreas Dirr / ZDF, Neue Bioskop Film – in development
Writer’s note I have long wanted to write a film set in the Alps right after World War II: A period piece, low on production costs, using the timeless natural backdrop of the Alps and only a few old mountain farms and village sets, which still exist in the valleys of South Tyrol. A film about post-war Europe from a remote perspective, high up in the mountains, where the terror of war, however, afflicts people’s lives. I found the true story that many German war criminals escaped via South Tyrol. Now I am writing the story of a young Nazi-murdering serial killer, who gets the chance for a fresh start with his old love. A film about a post-war world, where old conflicts are still in the hearts of people. Yet, they must come to terms with the past to move on – which I think is still very much true today. 26
1945. World War II is over, but not for Franz, who secretly keeps on killing Nazis – driven by the need for revenge, unable to leave the past behind. When his longlost love Klara comes back to his remote valley in the mountains of South Tyrol, he gets the chance for a new life. Until her husband shows up – a Nazi criminal on the run. Franz wanted to stop the killing. Now it starts all over again.
Synopsis Summer of 1945. World War II is over and many Nazi war criminals escape from Germany via South Tyrol. Adolf Eichmann, KZ-doctor Josef Mengele and countless others receive shelter and new passports from the German-speaking population of South Tyrol, before continuing their flight to South America. Franz (26) lives on a mountain farm in a remote valley of South Tyrol. Throughout the war, Franz has been fighting in clandestine resistance against the Nazis. But his war is not over. In Innsbruck, Franz seeks out desperate Germans, offers to guide them across the mountains – and kills them on the way. Franz feels that he must take revenge for his Italian best friend, who was murdered by the Nazis. But the years of killing are wearing Franz down. At his heart, he knows that he must end his private war. When, out of the blue, Franz’s long-lost childhood-sweetheart Klara (24) comes back to the valley, Franz seems to get the chance for a fresh start. Reluctant only at first, Franz soon falls in love again with beautiful and fascinating Klara. He decides to stop his murderous Nazi hunt. With Klara, he starts dreaming about a new life together. Until Martin (36) comes to the valley, a German, who turns out to be Klara’s husband – and a Nazi war criminal on the run. Klara thought he was dead, but now he wants to take her to South America with him. Klara, who meanwhile knows that Franz has murdered Nazis before, wants him to kill her husband. It’s their only chance! But Franz has sworn to stop the killing. Martin seems harmless, even friendly and on one occasion, he saves Franz’s life. Only when Martin finds out about Franz’s past killings and threatens to reveal the secret, Franz has no choice and kills him. Suddenly, the villagers are on to Franz. They have been searching for the secret Nazi killer in their midst and Franz obviously profits from the latest killing, which leaves Klara free to marry him. Faced with the hatred of the villagers, Klara begs Franz to go away. Thanks to the money that Franz has taken from his victims, they have enough for a fresh start overseas. But Franz cannot leave his elderly mother. More and more, things get out of hand. Conflicts between German-speaking and Italian villagers flare up in the valley. One night, Franz’s barn goes up in flames and he finds his mother dead. Full of anger and despair, Franz realizes that now, nothing is keeping him any longer. He wants to go away with Klara. But then he finds out: Klara has been manipulating him the whole time – she’s even responsible for the death of his mother! — Learning the dark truth about her, Franz comes to realize that Klara is in fact the last tie to the past that he must cut before he can start a new life. Klara is the last Nazi he has to kill. High up in the mountains, it all comes down to one deadly decision... 27
FRÄULEIN
Caterina Carone
Genre: Comedy
Carone Caterina
Rome, Italy
Name
City of residence
+39 32 09 291 117
caterinacarone@gmail.com
Phone
–
–
Website
Agency
Biography
Synopsis
Caterina Carone was born on 20 June 1982 in Ascoli Piceno, Italy. A scriptwriter, director, and filmmaker, she graduated from Bologna University in 2004 in Media and Communication. From 2004 to 2007 she specialized in production, directing, and scriptwriting at ZeLIG School for Documentary, Television and New Media in Bolzano. Her documentary “The Keys to Paradise” won the Premio Kodak at the Libero Bizzarri Film Festival in 2008. “Valentina Postika waiting to leave” won Best Documentary Script at Premio Solinas in 2008, and Best Italian Film Documentary at the Torino Film Festival in 2009. “Valentina Postika waiting to leave” was also nominated as Best Full-length Film Documentary at David di Donatello Awards 2010. Some of her short stories were published by Nuovi Argomenti, an Italian literatary quarterly.
Regina is forty-eight years old and she’s just what you would call a Fräulein: without a husband or children, and with an apparently strong character, sometimes bitter and sarcastic, grumpy and hard-headed, she’ll do anything to hide her feminine side. Not only does she undertake the heaviest jobs of the restructuring of her hotel, a three-floor building on the shore of Lake Costalovara, on the plateau in Renon, Italy: she has also designated a chicken as her companion and pet, and the last time she paraded in front of the mirrors of a fashion boutique was several years ago, when – soon after her teenage years – she bought a bridal gown for a wedding that never took place. She has kept it inside her wardrobe ever since, shrouded in cellophane, behind the dark pile suits she normally wears, the symbol of failed happiness.
Filmography
Gone wild from years of loneliness, what makes Regina most uneasy are: men under the age of ninety, the song “Fräulein”, a cover from the Sixties by Chris Howland that seems to speak to her alone, and the social events that need more than a plain pile suit.
Valentina Postika waiting to leave – scriptwriter, director, photographer, producer. Documentary, 2009, 73 min. The keys to paradise – scriptwriter, director. Documentary, 49’, 2007, Zelig School production Dust – scriptwriter, director. Documentary, 29’, 2006, ZeLIG School production
Writer’s note Identity is a vague, mysterious, and controversial concept. What does it mean to have an identity? What determines the identity of a person? And, is there only one identity? These are the issues to which I try to answer, the ones that drive me to imagine this story. Sometimes a painful trauma plunges you into a sort of jam, in an absence of life that after a while takes the shape of an inescapable fate. Through this game of appearances, in which identities seem determined by law, Regina and Walter will discover, one through the fears of the other, yet with different results, that it’s not really impossible to come back to life.
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Not a little girl anymore, nor yet a woman, forty-eight year old Regina is known to everyone as Fräulein (Miss). What seems like a choice of lifestyle conceals instead an ancient pain. Provoked by the feminist gossip of her two best girlfriends, her status of spinster seems to waver with the arrival of a mysterious stranger. A film about the power of change that upsets even the most indisputable assurances.
To mend the feeling of void that oppresses her, she spends her spare time cooking exaggerated quantities of cakes that she’s eventually forced to dump, or listening to the sentimental misadventures of her two friends, a widow with a compulsive passion for department stores, and an ex-nurse having a nervous breakdown, weak and embittered, and at war with her unfaithful husband. Convinced of the superiority of the female gender, the two friends would certainly acknowledge Regina’s adherence to their principles, but one day – out of the blue – a mysterious tourist of about sixty years plunges into her life. Walter Bonelli, a childish and lost man, persuades her to put him up in the hotel closed for work. Whilst all around them rage misunderstandings and vicious gossip, Regina slowly starts to feel inside a kind of adolescent love that will overturn forever both her assurances and the ones of those who used to call her Fräulein.
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ICE MAN
Brendan Foley
Genre: Action adventure
Brendan Foley
London, UK
Name
City of residence
+44 77 74 416 742
bren@properpicture.com
Phone
www.filmfoley.com
Robert Kirby, United Agents
Website
Agency
Biography Brendan is a screenwriter, producer-director and author. His WWII best-seller Under the Wire (Random House, 300,000 copies) was named Best New Writing by Waterstones, UK’s biggest bookseller. His feature films include award-winning action-drama Johnny Was (Sony), thriller The Riddle (Image Ent. 2.6m DVDs), and chiller Legend of the Bog (Lionsgate). In TV, he co-created children’s environmental animated series Shelldon (NBC) and the upcoming Dr Feelgood (Monday TV). Brendan has written for studio and indie projects including Addae’s Journey (Devonshire Productions) and Endurance (OrigiCorp). Born 1964, he grew up in Belfast and became a features journalist, working in 77 countries, with subjects ranging from oil spills in Alaska to bomb disposal in Angola, before becoming a screenwriter.
Filmography “The Riddle” – thriller feature starring Sir Derek Jacobi and Vanessa Redgrave “Johnny Was” – action drama with Vinnie Jones, Patrick Bergin, Roger Daltry “Legend of the Bog” – chiller satire starring Nora Jane Noone, Vinnie Jones
Writer’s note I’m drawn to Ötzi the Ice Man’s story for the same reason as millions of others world-wide: he provides a window to a forgotten time, so different and yet so similar to our own. He also stands as a metaphor for the battle which every human heart must face – the struggle not to freeze in the face of life. My background gives me some experience with the balance between war and peace. I grew up during the Belfast Troubles. As a journalist I covered conflicts in Africa and South America. Yet wherever I travelled I found that human kindness and ingenuity can win out over suspicion and war. I love ‘fish out of water’ survival stories: 127 hours, Dances with Wolves, Apocalypto, Planet of the Apes. Having written some books and movies, I think I could now make Ice Man something truly special.
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When his wife vanishes while walking in the Alps, DAVE refuses to give up his search, even when the journey leads back in time to the stone age of Ötzi the Ice Man. In order to win her back he must learn not just to survive in a primitive world of warriors and wilderness, but also how to love again – a journey that makes him question whether it is he or Ötzi who is the real ‘Ice Man’.
Synopsis DAVE, an American geologist is on a great second honeymoon in South Tyrol with German-born wife ANNA, in an attempt to patch up a fractured relationship. They visit Ötzi the famous stone-age Ice Man in a museum and hike together in stunning scenery. But when Anna discovers Dave is using their trip as cover for a survey for a future mine, she snaps. After a blazing row she storms off on a mountain path. He waits. And waits. Time passes and all searches fail to find her, Dave is riddled with guilt. He loses his job to keep searching the mountains alone. Eventually he spots a half-buried body on a glacier. Trying to reach it, he falls and is knocked out. He wakens to find that the body is alive – ÖTZI, an injured man in crude clothing. Dave helps him off the mountain, looking for help, but finds he is no longer in his own time, but in Ötzi’s stone age. In Ötzi’s village, Dave is forced to fight for his life against a rival warrior while a masked shaman watches. Dave wins by striking one of his few matches and is instantly considered a fire-wizard. The Shaman lifts her mask – it is Anna. Or it looks like Anna, but this stone age beauty has no recognition of him, or their past or future together. She is VASHA, Ötzi’s woman, perhaps an anciant ancestor of his future love. As Dave tries to reach her, he learns all aspects of stone age survival: food, fighting, shelter, sex. His friendship with Ötzi is strained by his desire for Vasha. When Dave brings Vasha to a sacred cave to show her wall paintings he has made of them together in a different time and place, Ötzi plots to get rid of his friend and rival. When their hunting party searches for copper ore in a cave, Ötzi lets Dave lead the way and he is cornered by a huge cave bear. But Ötzi is a true warrior and can’t go through with his plan. Soon Ötzi is fighting for his life with the animal and it is Dave’s turn to hesitate. With Ötzi gone he might regain his love. But he too has honour and they vanquish the cave bear together. Laden with copper ore, they return to their village to find it ravaged by enemies. Vasha has been kidnapped. The surviving warriors, hopelessly outnumbered, plan a rescue. They have one advantage – Dave’s 5,000 years of future know-how. He ushers in the bronze age with revolutionary weapons and tactics. After a perilous journey through the mountains, they launch a spectacular surprise attack and rescue Vasha before retreating back over the mountains, pursued by their foes. In order to stop them from catching up, Dave sacrifices himself so Vasha and Ötzi survive, in the hope this will let him meet Anna again in the far future. In doing so, he finds a way back to his own time – back to the love he lost long before he met Ötzi. Now he knows who the real Ice Man was – himself. 31
PRINCESS OF MARMOTS
Anke Klaaßen
Genre: Grounded Fantasy
Anke Klaaßen
Constance, Germany
Name
City of residence
+49 15 774 936 997
anke.klaassen@filmakademie.de
Phone
–
–
Website
Agency
Biography Born on 13 October 1983, in Karlsruhe, Germany, Anke Klaaßen studied arts, media, literature and philosophy at the University of Constance and Florence. During her studies she worked as a journalist for several newspapers. After completing her bachelor’s degree she began studying screewriting at the Film Academy BadenWürttemberg. Currently she is writing a feature film for her diploma thesis, develops a script of a short film for the international program Atelier Ludwigsburg-Paris and works as a geriatric nurse at a nursing home for demented people.
Filmography “Freischwimmen” – (2008) 8 min, screenplay and director “Auszeit” – (2008) 8 min, screenplay and director “Grabpflege” – (2010) 8 min, screenplay, coproduction SWR / Arte, Atelier Ludwigsburg-Paris
Writer’s note Mountains are solid magic; mere grains of sand within the universe, against human life their existence is eternal. They speak of something greater. Their heavenly heights hold a magnetic attraction, emanating beauty and danger. Mountains are the keepers of revelation and mystery, defining and defying nature. From ancient times, the Dolomites have born the figures of a saga still spoken of today. The legend of the Fanes Empire illustrates the antagonism between man’s love for the mountains and their exploitation. The legendary figures as the embodiment of this ambivalent interplay still haven’t lost any of their universal truth. A truth Juli becomes part of on her quest in the Dolomites. Even if she doesn’t find her father she gathers the strength to see her reality from another angle.
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Growing up fatherless in a dolomite village, Juli (8) takes refuge in the idea that her father is the powerful king of marmots, who years ago was petrified, imprisoned in stone. When her mother falls in love with Juli’s enemy, Luis the hunter, she journeys into the mountains to reawake her father. As the illusion of her marmot father crumbles, she finds an unforeseen saviour: hunter Luis.
Synopsis The family of fatherless JULI (8) takes on the outsider role in a village in South Tyrol. According to her mother CÄCILIE her father is dead. Juli believes her father is MARMOTO, king of marmots, who shortly after her birth was petrified by the evil wizard MULA DE SPINA. Ever since she could remember she’s been accompanied by the snappy marmot KARLOS – in Juli’s reality a guardian sent by Marmoto. Juli’s belief in her mighty marmot father has prompted taunts from her classmates. It‘s no surprise that the summer she spends at the family owned alp feels like paradise to her, far away from school and the village. However, the idyll crumbles when her mother falls in love, with of all people, Juli‘s enemy LUIS, a passionate hunter and owner of a stately collection of padded marmots. Not only does Luis intrude into her family, but he also talks her mother into selling the alp- their sole financial rescue, Job’s news for Juli. The only one left to help them now is her marmot father. Marmoto would banish the aggressive hunter – this, Juli believes to know for sure. Luckily, the only visible to Juli norgg, NOKI tells her about the magic Rayeta stone which has the power to break the spell over her father. Juli, Noki, and marmot Karlos leave in direction of the mountains to claim the crystal in possession of the evil Mula de Spina. Close on the heels of the three are Cäcilie and Luis, who, anxious about Juli’s disappearance, went searching for her. The dangerous journey leads Juli, Noki and Karlos through dark and mysterious places. They encounter several mythical figures like witches, salwans and aguanas until they reach the Grey Town, a labyrinth of stones, full of eerie ghosts. Nevertheless, Juli fights the wizard and takes possession of the crystal. But now Noki makes a confession: he doesn’t believe in the existence of the marmot king and only wants the stone so he can return it to the Norgg people, whose entrance was closed by a spell. Juli keeps denying the truth. Alone, she continues to climb up to her petrified father, but soon she has to realize that Noki was right. Meanwhile the conscience-stricken Norgg encounters the hunter Luis. Cäcilie falls down a slope and desperate Luis, with the senseless mother over his shoulders, can’t find the path leading back into the valley. Noki comes for Juli, who is forced to help Luis save her mother. Luis, on the contrary, must trust Juli’s invisible friends to guide them down the path. When they return to the village, Juli hasn’t found her marmot father, but while rescueing her mother, she convinced Luis to keep the alp and discovered that behind the marmot murderer there might harbor quite a nice guy.
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ROMEO AND JULIAN
Gabi Arnold
Genre: Romance drama with fantastic elements
Gabi Arnold
Stockholm, Sweden
Name
City of residence
+46 737 842 129
arnold60903@yahoo.de
Phone
–
–
Website
Agency
Biography Born in 1977 in Munich, Germany, Gabi has an MA in American Literature and Psychology. To make her passion for writing her profession, she went to the Bournemouth Media School, Centre for Excellence in Media Practice in the UK and received a Bachelor of Arts with honours in Scriptwriting for Film and TV. She was Co-Storyliner for a multi-media university project highly commended by Channel 4, Content Editor for a NaSTA Award winning student TV show and is Writer/ Director of the short the problem with liking the person you have sex with, shown at the Purbeck Film Festival 2007. Outside the box is where she lives, stories are best when they empower. Current projects are an original novel, heartcore novel, and a feature/potential TV drama series, his skin. She resides in Stockholm, where Equality is already a major box office hit.
Filmography “the problem with liking the person you have sex with” – short, Writer/Director “Muffins & Cigarettes” – experimental short, Writer/Director/Editor “The Thin White Line” – short, Script Editor
Writer’s note Love is the core. Self-respect the spine. Folk punk the ultimate surprise in this fantastic version of a legendary tragedy. In times that strive on personal freedom, the characters’ fight for control over their fate is rewarded with life. The contrasts of folk/punk styles, Modern/Shakespeare English, Bolzano city/Sarntal nature are vibrant and fresh. Crazy unique, cutting edge current, deeply relevant, it is a film that will shine in international festivals. Covering multiple markets, it will rock the Shakespeare globe, empower not only gay/female audiences, it speaks the universal language of music. Equality/respect and life at maximum volume. MTV/fairyfrom-hell. Rough-edged attitude/gentle romance. Making audiences laugh and kiss. You be the stars of fortune who help make it happen.
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UK punk guitarist Julian crash falls in love with South Tyrolean apple farmer and folk musician Romeo. Hunted by fairy Queen Mab from hell who likes telling him he isn’t worth shit, Julian has to find the three chords that are his very own life music: his true love, his true talent, his true Self. Will their fierce fight for freedom kill the two lovers, or are they star-caressed and destined to survive?
Synopsis A tale of star-crossed lovers destined to take their lives... UK punk band The Capulets are coming to Bolzano. For guitarist Julian, the band is all he thinks he can be. His guitar is his soul. What is love to you? is a question he cannot answer but Freedom, an apple and Revolt are tattooed on his wrist. It’s only skin deep: the band’s trademark is stage violence, Julian is singer Tybalt’s toy to push around, doesn’t know how to refuse. Romeo is the cheerful son of Montague Apple Farm. Farmer by tradition, he is a musician at heart, wanting to funk up folk tradition, looking for his own place in his world. At the Capulets’ gig, Romeo and Julian fall in love and the world is against them, it’s punk versus folk, status quo versus free choice. ...or was that star-caressed and destined to survive?... Out of Julian’s darkest fears, that he isn’t worth the life and love he wants, comes Fairy Queen Mab, fairy from hell showing people their deepest truth. She offers a sword. Julian has to cut himself to survive the inner crisis. Next day: Romeo is in bliss, Julian is drunk, trying to kill feeling. Romeo’s best friend Mercutio struggles to understand how opposite worlds can be equally loved, fears to loose Romeo to punk. Italian rock god Paris likes the Capulets’ violent band dynamic, wants Julian as duet partner for the MTV EMAs. But tired of the abuse, Julian sets off to Romeo’s valley. While Romeo offers Julian’s soul protection, Julian frees Romeo’s wild side. In an ancient orchard, they share an apple in a kiss, for freedom, for revolt, for life: you can change your fate! At indie producer The Friar’s music studio, Romeo and Julian combine punk and folk, loving, bliss. In his band, Julian now acts up against singer Tybalt, plays him against the wall. Tybalt attacks Mercutio but Romeo defeats him. Mercutio refuses to welcome Julian, he is too different! It is the death of his and Romeo’s friendship. A fight with Queen Mab frees Julian’s self-value. He asks Romeo to marry him and they do. Honeymoon in Verona, Julian and Romeo go public with their love, punk kisses folk. Paris announces Julian to be his EMAs partner all over the media world. It’s do it, for Julian, or kill his career. Romeo realizes he is who he wants to be by being with Julian, his place is with him. At the EMAs, Paris takes over Tybalt’s violence. Finally respecting himself, Julian quits the Capulets, lets Paris smash his guitar, and with a badass victory sign is off! Friendship accepts change and Romeo and Julian perform their punk folk song at Mercutio and Benvolia’s traditional wedding, the world dances. It’s The Love Potion! Queen Mab brings the sword... Julian stabs her, no blood. Freedom. Julian and Romeo kiss, love, live. Never was a story of more hope than this of Julian and his Romeo... 35
Small Fish
Enrica Gatto
Genre: Drama
Enrica Gatto
Salerno, Italy
Name
City of residence
+39 32 93 884 819
enricagatto@libero.it
Phone
–
–
Website
Agency
Biography
Synopsis
Born in Salerno, Italy, on 17 March 1982, Enrica Gatto graduated from ZeLIG School for Documentary, Television and New Media in 2007, where she specialised in directing and project development. In the same year she graduated from the University of Salerno in Communications Studies with a thesis in contemporary history titled: “The time of the pylon fall. History and chronicle of terrorism in South Tyrol.” She has been working as a freelance editor since 2008. She has edited several documentaries.
Rosa is five, almost six years old and looking forward to receiving her uniform as a “figlia della lupa” or “wolf’s daughter”, as school girls were called in the fascist jargon. She longs for it each and every day, although she won’t start school for another five months. In the meantime, she’s been learning Italian from an old book that belongs to her brother Franz, who keeps hiding it to upset her, and she spends almost her entire days going around with her grandpa Günter. For the past 20 years, her grandpa has been crossing the border every day to work the land he lost in 1919. Every six months he goes all the way out to the farthest patch of land, which has been assigned to an Austrian farmer, and regularly steals part of his harvest. Resia, the foremost village of the foremost municipality in Upper Vinschgau Valley, is on the border with Austria and Switzerland. After the First World War it has become a part of Italy, along with the rest of South Tyrol, and with the rise of fascism, the forced process of Italianisation has received a substantial boost. Rosa’s father, Martin, has lost interest in working the land. After all, he’s been left with only a small patch that is not enough to feed his entire family, so instead he engages in smuggling. Meanwhile, the richer farmers in the village, led by Pitscheider, are organising a resistance movement against Italianisation. An unspoken but constant friction exists between smugglers and partisans. Being the only ones able to understand Italian, the children enthusiastically follow and report details to the adults of the fascist radio news, thus stirring things up in the village. Will Hitler eventually come to take over South Tyrol? As the villagers await Hitler’s arrival, workers and a new fascist officer, Lieutenant D’Accursio, are sent from Rome to fortify the border. When she’s not with her grandpa, Rosa is either sneaking peeks at what happens at school or hanging out with the Italians to learn new words. She starts believing that people in the street are struggling to speak Italian as a pure gesture of courtesy towards the Italians, who can’t speak any German. She, however, will not feel the burden of the prohibition climate until one day, at a secret party organised in the mountains, far away from fascist eyes, she sings the latest Italian song she’s learnt and provokes both awe and anger amongst those present. The following day, the word “Walschen” (a derogative German term for Italians) stands out, in white varnished letters, on top of the entrance to the “maso”. Rosa’s world starts bending, until it eventually falls to pieces the day her father is arrested by Lt. D’Accursio on the border. While her grandfather can no longer cross the border, Rosa hangs on by the line, with the other children, waiting for Hitler’s arrival.
Filmography “Valentina Postika in attesa di partire” – (2009) directed by Caterina Carone. Best Italian documentary, 27th Torino Film Festival, 2009 Nominated as best feature-length documentary, David di Donatello Awards, 2010. “Senza Trucco” – (2011) directed by Giulia Graglia. Produced by Effetto Notte and Planet Image. Best documentary, III Documentary Film Festival Siciliambiente, 2011 Official selection, 14th CinemAmbiente – Environmental Film Festival, Torino, 2011. “No peace without war” – (2012) directed by Lorenzo Castore and Adam Cohen. Produced by Faber Film and Joon Film (Germany). Official selection at Vision du Reel 2012.
Writer’s note Ever since I lived in Bolzano, I’ve always wished to tell the story of this region, which previously belonged to Austria and suddenly became a part of Italy. A story I was unaware of, as most people from the rest of Italy are. During the three years I spent there, I met Rosa, who, as a child, loved the Italian language and school and enjoyed being a “little Italian.” I figured that filtering the story through the eyes of a child, whose perspective may be partial at times but is never fully biased, would be the best way to tell it, especially given its setting. The two border lines and the smuggling renders the story’s circumstances even more interesting as they are shared with other territories – very similar to life in any small alpine village or to daily survival in any suburb of Naples. 36
Resia, South Tyrol 1938. Rosa, a five year old about to start school, wants to be a fascist. The culture of her family and village is Austrian. She’s unaware of the problems of the coexistence cultures until blatant bans are imposed, either by the fascists or other villagers. Through her eyes, “Small Fish” (“I pesci piccoli”) describes how hard it is for children to understand the world of adults and for adults to make sense of history.
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Pascal Yorks & Matthias Lintner
The Diary Genre: Docu-Drama
Pascal Yorks
Berlin, Germany
Name
City of residence
+49 17 57 520 247
pascalyorks@gmail.com
Phone
–
–
Website
Agency
The Diary is a contemporary coming-of-age story about a fifteen year old boy from a remote South Tyrolian valley. It tells, in a documentary style, about a year in this boy’s life at a boarding school in Brixen We observe cultural clashes, his first encounter with love, death, and friendship. The film is not plot driven, but to watch the lifestyles of these South Tyrolean boys is simply gripping.
Synopsis Matthias Lintner
Berlin, Germany
Name
City of residence
+49 15 703 326 064
matthias.lintner@yahoo.de
Phone
+39 34 87 396 314
–
Phone
Agency
Biography Pascal Yorks. One year before Pascal Yorks’ birth (10.04.70) his Caribbean parents decided to move to Hamburg. He spent five years of his early youth in a nearby catholic boarding school for boys. After attending Hamburg’s Wichern Highschool he took up a course in Humanities at Hamburg University. Afterwards, he moved to Berlin, where he staged music and literary events, including readings of his own works, and worked in PR management. Later, he enrolled in the screen writer’s academy at the renowned dffb, the German Film- and Television Academy Berlin. Several of the short films based on his screenplays have been screened on festivals and were rated „Exceptionally Valuable“ by the respected German Film Evaluation Agency Wiesbaden. Pascal Yorks graduated from the dffb in the summer of 2011. Matthias Lintner was born on in Bolzano, (South Tyrol, Italy). He graduated from high school and received his A levels (“matura”) with a focus on graphic design in Bressanone (Brixen), Italy in 2006. Between 2002 and 2004 he studied as an external student at the boarding school Novacella near Brixen. From 2006 to 2008 he worked in various fields, such as a photographer, actor, floorer, primary school teacher for students from migrant families and assistant to the disabled. He also traveled through France, Spain and the Far East. In 2008, he began his studies in directing at the German Film and Television School Berlin, dffb.
This film is about a 15 year old boy, Matthi, who comes from a remote valley in South Tyrol and attends a monastic boarding school in Brixen. He is bestowed a diary by his 16 year old cousin, Sonja, a girl from Rosenheim in Bavaria. Twice a year his cousin comes to visit her biological father, who returned to his hometown in South Tyrol after splitting up from her mother. The first entry on New Year’s Day she writes herself “Only freedom is worth fighting for.” And then he starts writing. About everything that happens in his life. We see how he and his friends enjoy the rest of their holidays snowboarding and skiing. Getting drunk, pulling girls, fooling around, doing all kinds of stuff young men do. When the holidays are over we learn about the routine at the boarding school. How they arrive every Sunday from their homes back to school. How they attend their school lessons and the difficulties Matthi has to learn Italian. How they secretly watch films, smoke cigarettes or even sneak out at night. How they get punished when they are caught. How Matthi is troubled when his grandpa dies. We see the cultural differences of the boys from Ladinia and the boys from other parts of South Tyrol. One boy from Ladinia is a very good friend of Matthi. Will they manage to stay friends even if they belong to different groups? Later in summer, when his cousin Sonja is back, he curiously observes the love affair she has with a young man from Bolzano. After that summer holidays Matthi and his roommates start to dream of having a home of their own, because their troubles with the authorities in boarding school accelerate. We learn that this boy’s life is rich even if it seems to be trivial. We learn how he explores life with all the happy, sad and by times boring moments. How he grows up with all these kind of experiences. By the end of the year he is forced to leave boarding school. The diary entry for this day is a summary of his past year and an outlook on his future. Will he manage to survive? – he asks himself carefully. This coming-of-age story doesn’t give us a safe answer to that question. All we know is that this young man is ready to face the lessons to come.
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Writer’s note Director Matthias Lintner and screen writer Pascal Yorks met at the Berlin film academy dffb. There, we collaborated on the production of a short film and got to know each other’s personal and artistic approaches regarding the topics of truth and memories. At the centre of our joint work was the question of how memories materialise in film. Certain experiences are universal: first love, the first case of death, the apprehension of difference. But every person draws very individual conclusions from these experiences, which is why we wanted to avoid all judgement. As we both spent some years of our youth in boarding schools, we decided to fictionalise Matthias’ authentic diary dating from those years using a documentary narrative.
Filmography Filmography Pascal Yorks: “Baby Love” – (2011) Screenplay feature film, Diploma. A melodramatic Coming-of-Age Story with comic elements. “MPU” – (2011) short film. Director Robert Bohrer. arte/dffb production. German Filmboard Rating: “exceptionally valuable”. “Ballet Story” – (2011) short film. Director Daria Belova. arte/dffb production. German Filmboard Rating: “exceptionally valuable”. Filmography Matthias Lintner: “Comfort Zone” – Short film, 30min, Super16, 2011 dffb Production (not yet released) “Gelb & Leise” – Short film, 7min, 16mm, 2009 (Script with Pascal Yorks) dffb Production “Spieglein Mein” – Short film, 5min, DV, 2008
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Cristina Gadotti & Erica Gianesini
THE PEAK REFLECTION Genre: Drama
Cristina Gadotti
Trento, Italy
Name
City of residence
+39 34 91 448 088
cristina.gadotti@gmail.com
Phone
–
–
Website
Agency
Erica Gianesini
Milan, Italy
Name
City of residence
+39 34 92 339 807
erica.gianesini@hotmail.it
Phone
–
–
Website
Agency
Biography Cristina Gadotti was born in Trento, Italy in 1982. After completing the Music Academy and a Bachelor of Arts in drama and mass media at the University of Parma, she received a diploma in cultural management at the Academy of Fine Arts, Paolo Grassi in Milan. Between 2005 and 2006 she worked as an orchestra inspector for the International Youth Orchestra in the Pergine Spettacolo Aperto music festival. In 2010 after holding, for two years, the position of Assistant Marketing Director, PR and fundraiser in the Bologna Opera House, she moved to Germany for a stage on the Beethovenfest Bonn music festival. On several occasions she has co-worked with the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento. An eclectic personality, it stimulates her to approach every expression of the Art’s world. Erica Gianesini was born in 1984 in Milan, Italy. After completing her studies in drama and cinema at the University of Milan, the Academy of Arts Paolo Grassi and Quelli Di Grock Theatre School, she began working in the Italian film and television industry. She received credit for roles both as an assistant producer for the TV Series I soliti idioti and as an assistant director for La vita al tempo della morte, (Venice Days – Venice Film Festival 2010; Vedozero, Martini Prize 2009). Between projects, her passion to further her understanding of the world and various cultures has led her to travel extensively around the globe. A unique combination of studying, working and travelling has provided her with an enriched understanding of the mechanisms behind filmmaking and the focus about her goals.
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A dilapidated Gasthaus (tavern), a sick father and an endless array of creditors. After years away, this is the scenario that Anna faces upon her return to Landro. Through courage and determination and with the help of a cook of other times and a young mountain guide, Anna will deal with creditors, her father, and the hidden secrets of her past in an effort to redeem her family business and regain her lost identity.
Synopsis A suitcase is placed on the platform of Dobbiaco train station with a thud. Large black sunglasses conceal the thoughts of the young woman sitting upon the luggage. She is waiting, moving nervously while she looks around. The train whistles far away, a car horn honks, a man greets her. “Nice to meet you, I’m Michel.” “My pleasure, my name is Anna. Thank you for calling and alerting me.” Landro, South Tyrol, summer 2012. A phone call had brought Anna back to the place of her childhood, in the heart of the South Tyrolean Dolomites. Currently a young woman with a successful career in Vienna, she has been catapulted to an almost surreal scenario. Her father had suffered a stroke a few days prior, and upon her arrival she discovers his Gasthaus in pitiful conditions. A distinguished lady, Anke, had been helping him the past few years, along with Michel, a young alpine guide. Instantly memories of Anna’s mother resurface. One night Anna receives a visit from a man. Anna discovers that the business is completely indebted and bankrupt! She must try to save the crumbling Gasthaus. Once she realizes that her father has no intention of selling the business nor selling the assets under management, she commits to an agreement. She will pay off all debts by the end of the summer, otherwise the Gasthaus will become property of the creditor. Anna includes Anke and Michel in her plan. After a few days of intensive cleaning, painting and renovations, the Gasthaus is reopened. Among a culinary recipe or another, Anke recounts local anecdotes, telling the stories of Anna’s family, and of her mother, with whom she shared a deep friendship. Through this and also the excursions she and Michel go on together, Anna slowly begins to regain the confidence she had lost with her hometown. But the business isn’t working so she decides to organize a culinary festival. Unfortunately, this also won’t work because of the constant presence of the creditor stepping between her and the villagers, like a vulture waiting for his prey. The confrontation with the villagers will raise Anna’s anger. The accumulated tension will result in a tête-à-tête with her father. Unexpected revelations will emerge, including hidden secrets behind the economic disaster and her family’s story. The suitcases are open and waiting to be filled. Downstairs, the father looks at the silhouettes of the mountains from the window. There is something still unsaid between them. Again, two roads lie ahead before her. Suddenly Anna remembers a story that Anke told her weeks before, the story of a hotelier. An idea comes into her mind. Another festival, this time way more special. She knows she won’t fail. Anna closes the luggage and pushes it under the bed. Vienna can wait. 43
Writer’s note Cristina Gadotti. The motivation for our story line originated from our great fascination regarding the late nineteenth century historical period of the Dolomites and the characters that lived in that setting. After the first glance to turn on mountain film, we were extremely moved by the story of Emma Hellenstainer, pioneer of tourism, and personalities like Michel Innerkofler, Paul Grohmann and other significant mountaineers that have written memorable pages of the history of mountaineering. It is from their legacy that we found the inspiration to write the story of our protagonist. Erica Gianesini. The premises are one hundred years old: a woman, a hotel, a challenge to handle alone to succeed in a world of men, the use of tradition and innovation to win the challenge, a community that needs to renew itself. From these common elements between past and future, we have co-written a story that broached also the social economic reality of this moment: the state of uncertainty for the future and the pursuit of origins in a global-world. A comparison between the present and the past, because by the end: to decide where you’ll go you always need to know where you come from.
Filmography Erica Gianesini “La vita al tempo della morte” – produced by Roadmovie and Piemonte Doc Film Found, Venice Days - Venice Film Festival 2010 Assistant Director “Vedozero” – produced by Roadmovie and Province of Milano, Winner of Martini Prize 2009 - Best Innovative Movie Assistant Director “Matu” – Short Film, produced by Cosv Ong Scriptwriter and Assistant Director
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ZWEITLAND
Michael Kofler
Genre: Drama
Michael Kofler
London, UK
Name
City of residence
+44 (0)77 99 613 804
michael_kofler@gmx.net
Phone
www.mkofler.com
–
Website
Agency
Biography Writer/Director Michael Kofler was born on 18 April 1979 in Bruneck (South Tyrol, Italy), where he also grew up. He started off his career, working in production for a Munich-based production and visual effects house. Subsequently, he moved on to produce and direct video content and music videos for a major music record label, while writing and directing his own short films. In 2007 Michael moved to London, where he graduated from Westminster Film School with an MA in Directing Fiction. Michael’s works have been screened and nominated at international film festivals, as well as licensed for worldwide distribution. In 2011 Michael was selected for the prestigious Berlinale Talent Campus at the Berlin International Film Festival. Michael is currently living and working in London.
Filmography “The Retreat” – Drama/22 min./2010, Participant, Berlinale Talent Campus 2011 “The Visit” – Comedy/6 min./2009, Festival de Cannes Short Film Corner 2010 “Tage des Hundes” – Comedy/18 min./2007, Selection, DARE Underground Short Film Festival 2011
Writer’s note South Tyrol in the 1960s. A conflict that raised the question of the use of terrorism and torture respectively as political acts. A struggle, in which growing extremism of the insurgents and the clampdown by the state, lead into an uncontrollable spiral of violence. Themes and concerns which are more than ever relevant in today’s world affairs. A story that explores the dark human aspects in such conditions, on both sides. Focusing on universally engaging dilemmas about identity and dissecting the natural unit of family, in the face of uncompromising political activism. Thus, creating a strong appeal for an international audience. Italian, Austrian, German and last but not least South Tyrolean history, makes the era part of my own history and heart.
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Troubled South Tyrol in the 1960’s. An irenic family man ends up in prison for his terrorist brother, fearing for his wife and kids who are exposed to the growing repression by police. Being tortured and abandoned by politics, he collaborates with a troubled police officer, who secretly works as a provocateur for the secret service.
Synopsis Zweitland (Second Hand Land) is a drama, set in South Tyrol during the terrorist attacks by the South Tyrolean Liberation Committee (BAS) in the 1960s. Anton Passler (27) is struggling for survival with his wife Anna (25) and two children on their remote watermill. Standing in for his little, black sheep, brother Paul (22), has become a natural instinct for Anton ever since their childhood. And so he does in the aftermath of the first BAS bombings. Rejecting a violent struggle himself, Anton helps his brother and BAS member Paul to flee from police. But Anton consequently ends up in custody himself. Being the bastard son of a German Wehrmacht soldier, Italian policeman Alessandro’s (23) voluntary antiterror service, against the German-speaking dinamitardi is more than a mission. It is his very own way of proving and declaring his own Italian identity. Anton’s and Alessandro’s paths cross the first time in the interrogation room. The blonde policeman fails in the face of his first torture-assignment in front of his dark haired colleagues. Despite the horrible scenario, it is the moment when Anton and Alessandro gain each other’s respect. While Anna is desperately pulling the family through by herself, the maltreatment of the political inmates and the lack of any political reaction or support from outside shakes Anton’s political and ethical values and his sanity more and more. His brother’s sacrifice haunts Paul in his hiding places and Anna doesn’t offer him any reconciliation. He chooses violence as his reconciliation, joins a reckless guerrilla group in the mountains. Haunted by the breakdown in the interrogation room and shattered by the daily humiliation of his fellows, Alessandro is lured into becoming an agent and provocateur by the Italian secret service. In entering a growing spiral of sleepless nights of agitation missions, the growing contradiction to his daily policing job, becomes ever more apparent. Seeking relief Alessandro takes vulnerable police freshman Lorenzo under his wings. Paul’s violent campaign makes Anton’s family target for growing repression by the Italian authorities. Anton’s release means his collaboration with the Italian Secret Service. He and Alessandro enter a fatal interdependency, coping together with Anton’s horrid prison experience and Alessandro’s repressed identity conflict on the one hand and mutual distrust on the other. Anna has to realise that Anton’s increasing self-isolation and passive-aggressive mood swings, make it impossible to restore a healthy family life. On the brink of collapse, Anton decides to conduct a terrorist attack. Lorenzo’s sudden suicide gives Alessandro a final reality check and he tries to stop Anton. But Paul shoots and kills the probably closest friend, his brother ever had. 47
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