Inaugural prize awarded as part of the Zurich Film Festival.
Swiss directors Michael Steiner and Jan Gassmann have won the first-ever Filmmaker Award, presented by Inglourious Basterds star Christoph Waltz at the Zurich Film Festival on Saturday (Sept 26).
The prize, set up by the Association for the Promotion of Film in Switzerland to support promising films, was open to Swiss filmmakers whose projects are currently in the late production or post-production phase.
Steiner’s project, Und Morgen Seid ihr Tot, received Chf 75,000 ($77,000) and Jan Gassmann’s project, Europe, She Loves, received Chf 25’000 ($26,000).
The two winners were chosen from a total of four nominated projects.
The presentation took place at Iwc gala dinner For the Love of Cinema, held as part of the 11th Zurich Film Festival, to which the Swiss luxury watch manufacturer had invited VIP guests from the worlds of film, media, politics and commerce.
Waltz, who headed the jury, said: “I am proud...
Swiss directors Michael Steiner and Jan Gassmann have won the first-ever Filmmaker Award, presented by Inglourious Basterds star Christoph Waltz at the Zurich Film Festival on Saturday (Sept 26).
The prize, set up by the Association for the Promotion of Film in Switzerland to support promising films, was open to Swiss filmmakers whose projects are currently in the late production or post-production phase.
Steiner’s project, Und Morgen Seid ihr Tot, received Chf 75,000 ($77,000) and Jan Gassmann’s project, Europe, She Loves, received Chf 25’000 ($26,000).
The two winners were chosen from a total of four nominated projects.
The presentation took place at Iwc gala dinner For the Love of Cinema, held as part of the 11th Zurich Film Festival, to which the Swiss luxury watch manufacturer had invited VIP guests from the worlds of film, media, politics and commerce.
Waltz, who headed the jury, said: “I am proud...
- 9/27/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Oscar-winning actor will also hold a keynote conversation at the Zurich Summit and present a screening of Inglourious Basterds.
German-Austrian actor Christoph Waltz has been named as the president of the Swiss jury at the upcoming Zurich Film Festival (Sept 24 - Oct 4).
The two-time Academy Award winner will attend the festival on its opening day to and over the jury for the inaugural Filmmaker Award, which comes with a prize of more than $100,000 (100,000Chf) open to Swiss filmmakers whose projects are currently in the late production or post-production phase.
The star of Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained and upcoming James Bond movie Spectre will also take part in a keynote conversation at the Zurich Summit - the industry sidebar of the festival which runs Sept 26-27.
In addition, Waltz will walk Zurich’s green carpet before presenting a screening of Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, which proved his breakthrough performance and earned him a Best Supporting Actor at the...
German-Austrian actor Christoph Waltz has been named as the president of the Swiss jury at the upcoming Zurich Film Festival (Sept 24 - Oct 4).
The two-time Academy Award winner will attend the festival on its opening day to and over the jury for the inaugural Filmmaker Award, which comes with a prize of more than $100,000 (100,000Chf) open to Swiss filmmakers whose projects are currently in the late production or post-production phase.
The star of Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained and upcoming James Bond movie Spectre will also take part in a keynote conversation at the Zurich Summit - the industry sidebar of the festival which runs Sept 26-27.
In addition, Waltz will walk Zurich’s green carpet before presenting a screening of Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, which proved his breakthrough performance and earned him a Best Supporting Actor at the...
- 9/2/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The early favorite to win the grand prize at the 25th Montreal World Film Festival and a controversial boxoffice hit in Europe since it opened in March, "The Experiment" is a riveting but far from perfect directorial debut from German television director Oliver Hirschbiegel. With another excellent performance by rising star Moritz Bleibtreu ("Run Lola Run", "In July") and a strong appeal to young-adult audiences, it has at least a fighting chance to lock up a domestic distribution deal.
Evoking such recent violent flicks as "Fight Club" and "Battle Royale", as well as reality TV shows like "Big Brother", the scenario is based on co-screenwriter Mario Giordano's novel "Black Box", inspired by a real Stanford University test simulating the conditions of a prison in order to psychologically probe the roles adopted by guards and prisoners.
While the filmmaking is steely and the performances by the ensemble cast believable enough given the escalating nastiness, the story hinges on several unbelievable acts of negligence by the experimenters. Consequently, one leaves the theater with little to ponder except the obvious: Going to prison can be like going to hell, and voluntarily doing so -- even under controlled circumstances -- is a heck of a way to earn a buck.
But that's what lures most of the participants in Cologne, who answer newspaper ads and undergo tests and seemingly minimal training for the two-week experiment. Tarek (Bleibtreu) is a taxi driver who walked away from a reporter's gig. For him, the opportunity is a good story in the making, and his former boss agrees. Equipped with glasses that contain a tiny camera, Tarek takes the plunge with his own agenda and becomes one of the "prisoners."
One of his cellmates (Christian Berkel) also is there not by accident, but these two good guys are almost done in by the guards, who become far too serious in their approach to a power struggle that ensues. Tarek, in jerk mode, inflames the situation by humiliating the wrong sadist, Berus (Justus von Dohnanyi), but the academics in charge are guilty of changing the rules that allow anyone to leave at any time they request.
With the prisoners sinking into depressed and caged-animal states of mind, the guards become intoxicated, break rules and vindictively start asserting their authority. At first, they find nonviolent ways (per the rules) to discipline rabble-rousers like Tarek and a prisoner who refuses to drink milk for medical reasons. But one thing leads to another, and Berus makes several absurd leaps of logic to cause the "experiment" to spin murderously out of control.
Unfortunately, the filmmakers find no way to reach the bloody final act except by sending away the responsible project monitors (Edgar Selge, Andrea Sawatzki) at the exact wrong moment. Likewise, one of the crucial players is a woman (Maren Eggert) whom Tarek met when she crashed her car into his taxi early in the film. Their instant love affair is recounted in flashbacks, and she is inserted awkwardly into the mock prison at two points, including the vicious climax.
There are some deliciously ironic touches -- like the use of The Beach Boys song "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" in decided counterpoint to what appears onscreen -- and one feels much sympathy for the oppressed among the prisoners. But only in Germany, perhaps, would it be possible for a tough case like Berus to inspire instant barbarism on the part of the other guards. In that way, the film plays into cultural stereotypes and further distances the audience from whatever universal truths it is trying to mirror.
THE EXPERIMENT
Senator Entertainment
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Screenwriters: Mario Giordano, Don Bohlinger, Christoph Darnstadt
Based on the novel by: Mario Giordano
Producers: Norbert Preuss, Marc Conrad, Fritz Wildfeuer
Director of photography: Rainer Klausmann
Production designers: Uli Hanisch, Andrea Kessler
Editor: Hans Funck
Costume designer: Claudia Bobsin
Music: Alexander Van Bubenheim
Color/stereo
Cast:
Tarek Fahd: Moritz Bleibtreu
Berus: Justus von Dohnanyi
Steinhoff: Christian Berkel
Dora: Maren Eggert
Running time -- 120 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Evoking such recent violent flicks as "Fight Club" and "Battle Royale", as well as reality TV shows like "Big Brother", the scenario is based on co-screenwriter Mario Giordano's novel "Black Box", inspired by a real Stanford University test simulating the conditions of a prison in order to psychologically probe the roles adopted by guards and prisoners.
While the filmmaking is steely and the performances by the ensemble cast believable enough given the escalating nastiness, the story hinges on several unbelievable acts of negligence by the experimenters. Consequently, one leaves the theater with little to ponder except the obvious: Going to prison can be like going to hell, and voluntarily doing so -- even under controlled circumstances -- is a heck of a way to earn a buck.
But that's what lures most of the participants in Cologne, who answer newspaper ads and undergo tests and seemingly minimal training for the two-week experiment. Tarek (Bleibtreu) is a taxi driver who walked away from a reporter's gig. For him, the opportunity is a good story in the making, and his former boss agrees. Equipped with glasses that contain a tiny camera, Tarek takes the plunge with his own agenda and becomes one of the "prisoners."
One of his cellmates (Christian Berkel) also is there not by accident, but these two good guys are almost done in by the guards, who become far too serious in their approach to a power struggle that ensues. Tarek, in jerk mode, inflames the situation by humiliating the wrong sadist, Berus (Justus von Dohnanyi), but the academics in charge are guilty of changing the rules that allow anyone to leave at any time they request.
With the prisoners sinking into depressed and caged-animal states of mind, the guards become intoxicated, break rules and vindictively start asserting their authority. At first, they find nonviolent ways (per the rules) to discipline rabble-rousers like Tarek and a prisoner who refuses to drink milk for medical reasons. But one thing leads to another, and Berus makes several absurd leaps of logic to cause the "experiment" to spin murderously out of control.
Unfortunately, the filmmakers find no way to reach the bloody final act except by sending away the responsible project monitors (Edgar Selge, Andrea Sawatzki) at the exact wrong moment. Likewise, one of the crucial players is a woman (Maren Eggert) whom Tarek met when she crashed her car into his taxi early in the film. Their instant love affair is recounted in flashbacks, and she is inserted awkwardly into the mock prison at two points, including the vicious climax.
There are some deliciously ironic touches -- like the use of The Beach Boys song "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" in decided counterpoint to what appears onscreen -- and one feels much sympathy for the oppressed among the prisoners. But only in Germany, perhaps, would it be possible for a tough case like Berus to inspire instant barbarism on the part of the other guards. In that way, the film plays into cultural stereotypes and further distances the audience from whatever universal truths it is trying to mirror.
THE EXPERIMENT
Senator Entertainment
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Screenwriters: Mario Giordano, Don Bohlinger, Christoph Darnstadt
Based on the novel by: Mario Giordano
Producers: Norbert Preuss, Marc Conrad, Fritz Wildfeuer
Director of photography: Rainer Klausmann
Production designers: Uli Hanisch, Andrea Kessler
Editor: Hans Funck
Costume designer: Claudia Bobsin
Music: Alexander Van Bubenheim
Color/stereo
Cast:
Tarek Fahd: Moritz Bleibtreu
Berus: Justus von Dohnanyi
Steinhoff: Christian Berkel
Dora: Maren Eggert
Running time -- 120 minutes
No MPAA rating...
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