9 minute read
NEWS Shot in South Tyrol / FINAL TOUCH / Top 5 / 3 Questions for… / Funding Updates / Innovation
NEWS SHOT IN SOUTH TYROL Mordach
FINAL TOUCH A noi rimane il mondo
SHOT IN SOUTH TYROL Murder in the Valley
Cuma Ozan (Mehmet Kurtuluş, seen left in the picture) is on a trip of self-discovery in the village of Mordach when Laura Brunner, the daughter of the most important man in the valley, is found dead. As the last person to have seen her alive, Cuma is the prime suspect. But he has a secret: For years, he’s been working as an undercover investigator in Frankfurt’s clan world. His superior asks him to investigate the murder alongside rookie small-town police officer Toni Brandner (Sarah Bauerett, right). The two-part TV series Mordach is a production by UFA Fiction and ARD Degeto for ARD and was directed by Roland Suso Richter based on a screenplay by Thomas Berger. It was filmed in South Tyrol (including in and around Bruneck) and Trento in June 2021.
ARD Degeto/UFA Fiction/R. S. Richter
Altrove Films
FINAL TOUCH Art and Resistance
There’s a collective element to everything we do – even writing. In his documentary A noi rimane il mondo – Wu Ming and the art of radical resistance, South Tyrolean director Armin Ferrari examines the experimental storytelling of artists and activists from Bologna. His film explores the work of the “Wu Ming” (“no name”) writers’ collective, which was established there in the 1990s, capturing their avant-garde – and sometimes militant – approach to literature, art and politics. Throughout their history, the group of authors has managed to avoid the cameras and, after 25 years, this is the first film to be made about them. Besides Wu Ming, Ferrari’s film dives deeper into Italy’s artistic and cultural underground. The project was overseen by production company Altrove Films from Trento. Producer Roberto Cavallini, who is well connected within the South Tyrolean film scene, brought Bolzano-based Albolina Film on board as the service producer and assembled a crew largely consisting of South Tyroleans. The film was also shot in the province. One key scene involving the online group that uncovers fake news under the pseudonym “Nicoletta Bourbaki” was filmed in the library at Neustift Monastery near Brixen. Another shooting location was the site of the former Nazi transit camp in Bolzano, where partisan Giorgio Marincola was held before eventually being murdered by an SS unit in Val di Fiemme. As Ferrari’s directorial debut and Marina Baldo’s editorial debut, this exceptional project received support in areas including editing, post-production, festivals and distribution as part of “FINAL TOUCH #6: Intense Feedback from Experts”, an initiative by IDM and Bolzano Film Festival Bozen. “The experts gave us some very useful feedback on our rough cut,” says Roberto Cavallini. “Now we’ve completed the edit and are entering post-production – and we can’t wait for the premiere in fall.”
NEWS
TOP 5 Five Nail-Biters
TOP 5 Suspense #shotinsouthtyrol
SERIES Wild Republic (2021) DIRECTOR Markus Goller PRODUCTION Lailaps Pictures (DE), X Filme (DE), Handwritten Pictures (DE) LOCATIONS Pustertal Valley, Dolomites STORY A group of youth offenders participating in a resocialization program at the foot of the Alps flees into the mountains after their counselor’s unexplained death.
FILM The Girl in the Fog (2017) DIRECTOR Donato Carrisi PRODUCTION Colorado Film Production (IT) LOCATIONS Karersee Lake, Kaltern, Meran, Welschnofen, Sarntal Valley, Bolzano STORY Special investigator Vogel is supposed to solve the disappearance of a girl in a remote mountain village. In doing so, he heavily involves the media in his investigation.
FILM
Endabrechnung (2016)
DIRECTOR Umut Dağ PRODUCTION Allegro Film (AT) LOCATIONS Meran, Marling, Tscherms, Nals, Ultental Valley, Passeier Valley STORY After a burnout, Inspector Höllbacher retreats to Meran, his hometown. When a pair of lovers is shot dead, his nemesis is assigned to investigate.
FILM House of Shadows (2012) DIRECTOR Rossella De Venuto PRODUCTION Interlinea Film (IT) LOCATIONS Missian, Brixen, Oberbozen, Bolzano STORY Megan’s husband Leo inherits his family’s old Italian palazzo, where sinister shadows of the past resurface.
FILM The Iceman (2016) DIRECTOR Felix Randau PRODUCTION Port Au Prince Films (DE), Echo Film (IT) LOCATIONS Moos im Passeier, Pfitschtal Valley, St. Jakob, Schnals STORY 5000 years ago: When Kelab returns from hunting, he finds his entire clan dead. Driven by revenge, he makes his way through the Ötztal Alps.
NEWS THREE QUESTIONS FOR... Peter Brunner
FUNDING Funding Updates
Ewald Grum
Luzifer, the Austrian director’s unconventional horror film, premiered in competition at the Locarno Film Festival.
1. You filmed in idyllic locations near Brixen in South Tyrol – what role did the landscape play in your film? PB In my films, the landscape and scenery are like an extension of the characters themselves. I choose them just as intuitively as I do my actors. We found the brilliant Monika Hinterhuber in the Tauferertal Valley. She plays a veterinarian and a confidante of the main character – and is also a vet in real life. Together, we brought calves into the world and dehorned bulls.
2. Which locations are the best for making horror films? PB A filmmaker’s relationship with their chosen location is a very personal one and shapes the atmosphere on set and in the film. Some locations are shrouded in mystery and have a life of their own, which you can use as inspiration and learn from. Luzifer is not a typical horror film. It focuses on people and their relationships and draws inspiration from a true story of an exorcism. What is your personal recipe of success for a horror film? PB When I was 13 years old, I got a Michael Myers tattoo while my classmates were sitting a math exam. I was always very interested in extreme, controversial films and the theme of the outsider. A successful film manages to bring an experience to life, giving it the power to change someone and bring solace. If it is rooted in truth, the audience will take it seriously. Cinema is a collaborative process and we need an audience that wants to be actively involved. I want viewers to have the courage to lose themselves in the mystery.
3.
► LUZIFER (Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion) received 295,000 euros of production funding from IDM Film Fund & Commission.
good friends Filmproduktion/Martin Rattini
Shooting in South Tyrol: Andreas Prochaska's two-part TV series Im Netz der Camorra (2021).
FUNDING UPDATES IDM Film Fund & Commission has provided production funding as well as development and pre-production funding to film and television projects for ten years. Recently, the experiences gained during this time were used to update and revise IDM’s funding application guidelines with effect from 2021. In addition to the Green Shooting Certificate (► p. 53), the new application guidelines feature two other important changes. The first addresses gender mainstreaming and marks a step towards increasing diversity in productions. A balance between men and women among the filmmakers involved in a production – especially in key positions in the areas of production, screenplay, direction, acting, composition, editing, set design and music – is now one of the funding selection criteria for film projects. The other major update made by IDM to the guidelines aims to provide greater support to young filmmakers across all areas of film production, by creating a new funding type for short films and short-form series, including web series and artistically sophisticated films. More information: film.idm-suedtirol.com
NEWS INNOVATION Film in the Alps
INNOVATION Film in the Alps
“South Tyrol has a fantastic film community, and
more people should know about it,” says Martine De Biasi. It was this conviction that brought her together with her colleague Lisa Maria Kerschbaumer to create the Film in the Alps platform, which was born out of two different project ideas from the two South Tyrolean directors. The website connects local cinemas and film lovers, and also offers a peek behind the scenes of local film production. There are two main sections: Kerschbaumer reviews films shot here locally and De Biasi runs a podcast where she interviews people from the industry once a month in German, Italian or English. She kicked off with conversations with director Evi Romen, ZeLIG film school director Heidi Gronauer, sustainability expert Philip Gassmann on the topic of green filming, and film critic and author Chiara Zanini, who draws attention to all-male festivals in Italy under the hashtag #tuttimaschi (“all men”). In addition, filminthealps.com features a movie calendar for the whole of South Tyrol – a practical feature in a region where the cinema landscape is not limited to the larger, central cities, but is also very much alive and well in villages and side valleys. That’s great in theory, but it’s not easy in terms of organization: “I could go to the cinema in Klausen, Brixen, Bolzano or Bruneck, for example. But by the time I’ve looked through the websites and programs of all the venues, it’s too much of a hassle, so I just turn on Netflix,” Kerschbaumer says with a grin. The filminthealps.com calendar remedies this shortcoming and shows a collected list of what’s playing locally, from blockbusters to small festivals. You can filter the films by category, rate them, comment on them – and put them on a watch list to receive reminders as soon as they start playing in theaters. “That’s probably the feature I’m most excited about myself!” laughs De Biasi.
www.filminthealps.com
Founders Kerschbaumer (left) and De Biasi, Film in the Alps platform: an online meeting place for South Tyrolean film fans.
THE INITIATORS
Lisa Maria Kerschbaumer got into film in a roundabout way and initially worked on major film sets, such as Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life. Her own film The Little Cowboy won the Best Short Film award at the Dolomitale Festival. Martine De Biasi studied film editing at the ZeLIG documentary film school, but always wanted to go into directing. Her debut Becoming Me won the audience award as well as the jury award for best documentary at the 33rd Bolzano Film Festival Bozen.
Manuela Tessaro
