Editor

“After last year, when important social themes were explored with courage and originality in exemplary stories, the newest German films are this time going in the opposite direction. Apparently private stories and issues are now garnering public attention in various cinematic forms,” says Alfred Holighaus, head of Perspektive Deutsches Kino, as he announces this year’s selection, for which six productions have been confirmed.

In Thomas Sieben’s Distanz (Distance), life in its entirety is a private matter for the main character - despite the fact that his actions cause unprecedented public alarm by posing an unprecedented threat to public security. This threatening situation itself can only be destabilised by the feelings of a woman. The main roles are played by Ken Duken – who produced the film together with Norbert Kneißl – and Franziska Weiss. Distanz will open the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section on February 6, 2009.

Two mid-length films of utterly different design explore the daily, fundamental problems between sons and sporadically-present fathers. While Martin Büsker (Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Ludwigsburg) takes a humorous approach to the topic in his film Höllenritt (Roller Coaster), Michael Koch (Kunsthochschule für Medien, Cologne) makes a striking drama of the narrative in Polar (Polar).

The self-assured Berlin widow Gitti keeps her true age a secret, but otherwise wears her lonely heart on her sleeve. Her honesty makes the 35-minute documentary Gitti (Gitti) by Anna Deutsch (Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen “Konrad Wolf”, Potsdam) particularly vivid.

 
The three protagonists in Elmar Szücs’ 61-minute documentary Wir sind schon mittendrin (Generation Undecided) are also in their prime. These days, at thirty you either are a well-off family man or a college dropout. Elmar Szücs’ (Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg) peers arrive at the threshold to becoming adults a little late, but with charm, curiosity and a whole new self-image nonetheless.

This is what they have in common with Tom (Sebastian Rudolph), the protagonist in Abel Lindner’s Nur für einen Augenblick (In the Blink of an Eye). Photographer Tom does not make plans – not in his life or his career – which is why he can enjoy a brief encounter with his former love (Katrin Wehlisch) - for the moment described in this 25-minute feature.

The selection for Perspektive Deutsches Kino will be completed in mid- January.