Forum of Independents - Competition 2010 / Picco / Germany 2010
Kevin has just been locked up in a youth prison, a closed, inhospitable environment where he must find his place. He can either be a victim or perpetrator. Based on gradually increasing mental and physical violence, the movie climaxes in brutal and prolonged aggression. A prison drama based on actual events.
Picco is the nickname for a newcomer at a youth prison. In this dark prison drama it’s Kevin, who is forced to get to know and above all to experience the hard and clear-cut rules circumscribing the life of a young inmate. He shares a cell with three other young men. Their mutual friendship is fragile and vanishes at the first signs of approaching danger. Bullying and aggression are the order of the day. In a place cut off from the outside world, only one rule applies: you can either be a victim or a perpetrator. Kevin has to decide which he will be. This extremely raw drama offers a detailed portrait of how a correctional facility operates. The film follows the prisoners during daily activities, at school, with the prison psychologist, and during visits. But first and foremost is the ever-present mental and physical violence. The tension gradually increases, climaxing in insane and prolonged aggression that, according to some critics, outstrips Michael Haneke’s Funny Games. The movie is based on actual events.
105 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Philip Koch
/ Screenplay Philip Koch
/ Dir. of Photography Markus Eckert
/ Editor Andre Bendocchi-Alves
/ Producer Philipp Worm, Tobias Walker
/ Production Walker + Worm Film
/ Cast Constantin von Jascheroff, Joel Basman, Frederick Lau, Martin Kiefer
/ Contact Rezo
Philip Koch (b. 1982, Munich) began studies in feature film direction at the University of Television and Film Munich in 2003. In that same year he began to write film criticism. He has shot a total of three shorts and two documentaries. In 2007 he shot the short film Lumen, screened to acclaim at several international festivals. The brutal prison drama Picco, which took an award at the Max Ophüls Festival, is his feature writer-director debut. Based on actual events, Picco treats a case of torture and murder at one of Germany’s youth prisons. Here, Koch achieves great authenticity thanks to shooting at an actual correctional facility. According to the filmmaker, it wasn’t just a probe into a prison institution but also an indictment of society for neglecting those who have foundered.
Rezo
29, Rue du Faubourg Poissonniere, 75009, Paris
France
Phone: +33 615453221
E-mail: [email protected]
Philip Koch
Film Director
Tobias Walker
Producer
Philipp Worm
Producer
Delphyne Besse
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