Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

July 4 - 12, 2008

Absurdistan
Absurdistan

Colour, 35 mm
Germany, 2007, 88 min
Section: Another View
http://www.myspace.com/absurdistanderfilm
Film trailer: Higher quality | Lower quality

Film screenings:
3D4 - 6.7., 14:00, Theatre Karlovy Vary
5R5 - 8.7., 22:00, Richmond Cinema
932 - 12.7., 10:00, Congress Hall - Thermal

Director: Veit Helmer
Screenplay: Gordan Mihić, Zaza Buadze, Ahmet Golbol, Veit Helmer
Dir. of Photography: George Beridze
Music: Shigeru Umebayashi
Designer: Erwin Prib
Editor: Vincent Assmann
Producer: Veit Helmer
Production: Veit Helmer-Filmproduktion
Sales: Beta Cinema

Cast

Maximilian Mauff, Kristýna Maléřová

Synopsis

Veit Helmer’s third feature film started off with a newspaper article about a Turkish community where the women had revolted against the men, who were unable to repair the local water line. They refused to have sex with the men until their households were back in working order. Aja and Temelko, the young protagonists of Absurdistan, find themselves in a similar situation. The stars portend that the time is ripe to consummate their love. The prerequisite for this, however, is that they take a bath together, but the waterspout in their village, somewhere in the desert between Europe and Asia, won’t yield a drop. The tension between the men and women of the village is approaching all-out warfare, and Temelko has to pluck up the nerve for decisive action in time, before the constellations change. Helmer’s Absurdistan, which involved an international cast (Kristýna Maléřová from the Těšín Theatre stars in the role of Aja), is reminiscent of silent film slapstick with its distinct stylisation, and also recalls the films of Emir Kusturica or Nana Djordjadze.

About the director

Veit Helmer (b. 1968, Hannover, Germany) was making films on a video camera when he was in secondary school. After graduation, he received filmmaking experience through assistant jobs such as location scouting. He studied film direction at the end of the 1990s at the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film in Munich. During his studies he took part in the making of the Wim Wenders film A Trick of Light (Die Gebrüder Skladanowski, 1995) as assistant director and co-producer. In addition to shorts he has also made commercials (Coca-Cola, IKEA). He successfully debuted in feature film production with the stylised Tuvalu (1999), which is set in a dilapidated spa, and this was followed by Gate to Heaven (Tor zum Himmel, 2003), a movie about refugees living illegally at the international airport in Frankfurt.

Film Guests

Veit Helmer, Kristýna Maléřová, Radomil Uhlíř

Contacts

Beta Cinema
Grünwalder Weg 28d, D-82041 Oberhaching
Germany
Tel: +49 89 673 469 829
Fax: +49 89 673 469 888
E-mail: beta@betacinema.com
www: www.betacinema.com

Veit Helmer-Filmproduktion
Wormser Str. 4, 10789 Berlin
Germany
Tel: +49 30 217 7777
Fax: +49 30 217 7777
E-mail: veit.helmer@arcor.de
www: www.veithelmer.com

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