The Oldenburg International Film Festival takes place from September 16 – 20, 2015.
With worldwide entries from more than 70 countries the Festival is looking forward to an exciting and diverse 22nd issue of the event. The official Entry Deadline is coming up on Friday, June 12, by the end of this week.
Besides numerous international discoveries this year’s programming will present the world premiere of “Godless”, a crime drama based on real events, and Germany’s first TV series, that gives complete artistic freedom to its writer director, Thomas Stiller.
The first highlights:
GODLESS
by Thomas Stiller - Germany 2015
Written and directed by award-winning filmmaker Thomas Stiller, “Godless” is a groundbreaking format in German television. With artistic freedom so far unique only to HBO or Netflix, the writer-director has been given complete license to create a crime drama based on real incidents and dares to show what usual crime shows rarely touch upon: the raw and inevitable energy of a conflict that draws the perpetrator and victim into crime. An adaptation of the Dutch format of the same title, “Godless” is produced and developed by Marc Conrad and his company Conradfilm for German broadcaster RTL II. Oldenburg will present the first three episodes, starring the high profile cast of Matthias Köberlin, Jule Ronstedt, and Ralph Herforth. World Premiere.
NEXT TIME I’LL AIM FOR THE HEART
by Cedric Anger - France 2014
Based on a true story, writer-director Cedric Anger’s thrilling crime drama has been likened to a French ‘Zodiac’, garnering 2015 César nods for both its director and star, Guillaume Canet, for his performance as a notorious serial killer and cop commissioned to investigate his own murders. Ripped from the headlines, Canet’s character is based on Alain Lamare, a real-life murderer who terrorized the inhabitants of the Oise region of France during a 10-month killing spree in 1978. German Premiere.
OBSERVANCE
by Joseph Sims-Dennet - Australia 2015
After his auspicious and award winning debut “Bad Behavior”, Joseph Sims-Dennett returns with a mind-bending journey into the psyche of man. He deftly locates his hero in the politically timely horrors of Snowden paranoia - mirroring Coppola’s “The Conversation”- as his private investigator hired to observe a hunted woman discovers the terrifying shadows observing him. Anchored by its mesmerizing lead actor, rising star Lindsay Farris in a one-man tour de force, ‘Observance’ is an electrifying discovery. European Premiere.
TRAVELATOR
by Dusan Milic - Serbia 2014
When a 19 year-old ace sniper in the video game virtual world is hired by the Serbian mob to do a real life hit job, artificial worlds collide with explosive daring in Dusan Milic’s knockout thriller, “Travelator”. Oscillating between the tough reality of a Serbian refugee camp and the hyper-reality of a dreamlike Las Vegas, where ‘Blade Runner’ meets ‘Taxi Driver’, Milic breaks genre expectations, masterfully portraying the identity crisis of a young man caught in the kaleidoscope of avatars and artifice. As the teen assassin, European Shooting Star Nicola Rakocevic is a revelation. German Premiere.
CRUMBS
by Miguel Llansó – Ethiopia/Spain/Finland 2015
In the debut feature of Spanish writer/director Miguel Llansó, Ethiopia’s first sci-fi feature is also perhaps the most inspired homage to ‘The Wizard of Oz’ of the 21st Century. The pint-size superhero Candy takes us on an epic post-apocalyptic flight into surreal territory in quest of Santa Claus to grant him his hearts greatest wish. With the sci-fi poetic eye of Andrei Tarkovsky and joyful black humor, Llansó’s wasteland wonderland is a feast filled with re-interpreted and re-purposed symbols from the wealth and power obsessed 20th Century. German Premiere.
THE STRONGEST MAN
by Kenny Riches - USA 2015
Following its debut at Sundance, critics called Japanese-born writer-director Kenny Riches as “the one to watch”. With his hilarious oddball and irreverent tone, Riches unique style has been described as “Terrence Malick directing Napoleon Dynamite”. Exploring the façade of the American Dream, we ride through the less than glamorous streets of Miami with Beef, an angst driven Cuban-American construction worker with biceps as solid as his gold-painted BMX bike. But when his treasured wheels get stolen, the real ride begins. International Premiere.
SUMMERS DOWNSTAIRS
by Tom Sommerlatte - Germany 2015
Nominated for 2014s German Independence Award: Best Short, Tom Sommerlatte returns to Oldenburg with his critically acclaimed debut feature. In this twisted fraternal frolic at the family summerhouse in France, a bullying alpha brother is pitted against his pot-smoking slacker brother, in an upstairs/downstairs pecking order dance with a love triangle. With eleven siblings in real life, including his sister Iris who produced it, Sommerlatte is no stranger to the complexities of family rivalries, and his refreshing spin on a familiar theme is a painfully honest comedic delight.
WASTE LAND
by Pieter Van Hees - Belgium 2014
Set in the immigrant underbelly of Brussels, Pieter Van Hees completes his “Love and Pain” Trilogy with this neo-noir thriller. Named after T.S. Elliot’s poem, he weaves analogies to the costly wounds of colonialism and denial. The discovery of a murdered Congolese man sets in motion the investigation of more than a homicide, as its lead detective, grippingly captured by Jérémie Renier, descends on a journey into to the dark savagery of the soul. Having hosted both “Left Bank” and “Dirty Mind”, we welcome Van Hees back with the third chapter of his psychological voyage.
German Premiere.
MODEL HUNGER
by Debbie Rochon - USA 2015
Iconic scream-queen cult-star Debbie Rochon returns to Oldenburg with her feature debut as a director. Having starred in over 200 sub-genre films, she’s in familiar territory directing fellow scream-queen idol, Lynn Lowry, in this thought-provoking observation of the meaning of beauty. Slashing the mirror of political correctness, Rochon’s raw style resonates with the unfettered boldness of 70s New Hollywood, as “Mommy Dearest” meets “Rear Window” in a basement of horrors and psychological damage. International Premiere.