„About Endlessness“: Golden Lion winner Roy Andersson in Venice Competition again
• Third collaboration between Film- und Medienstiftung NRW and Roy Andersson
• Giornate degli autori: „You will die at twenty“ by Amjad Abu Alala
• Venice Classics – Documentaries: „800 Mal Einsam – ein Tag mit dem Filmemacher Edgar Reitz“ by Anna Hepp
• 76th Venice International Film Festival from 29.08.-07.09.2019
The Venice International Film Festival announced today that the Swedish director Roy Andersson will be represented in this year’s Competition with the international co-production „About Endlessness“. Andersson had previously been awarded the Golden Lion in 2014 for the Filmstiftung-backed film „A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence“. The renowned arthouse director and the Filmstiftung enjoy a long-standing collaboration, his work „You, The Living“ screening in Cannes' Un Certain Regard in 2007. Moreover, „You will die at twenty“ by Amjad Abu Alala will be shown in the Giornate degli autori sidebar, and Anna Hepp’s „800 Mal Einsam – ein Tag mit dem Filmemacher Edgar Reitz“ is screening in Venice Classics – Documentaries.
About „About Endlessness" (Competition)
In his new film "About Endlessness", the multiple award-winning director Roy Andersson uses fantastic elements to reflect on human life in all its beauty and cruelty, in its sublimity and banality, in its striving and stumbling. Essential Films has co-produced with Roy Andersson Filmproduktion (SE), Parisienne de Production (F), 4 ½ Fiksjon (NOR) in association with the broadcasters ZDF and Arte. Neue Visionen will be releasing the film in German cinemas. The Coproduction Office is handling world sales. The Filmstiftung backed the film with 100,000 Euros, with additional funding from MBB. Martin Serner and Jan-Eje Feeling star.
About "You will die at twenty" (Giornate degli autori)
Muzamel is the longed-for child of deeply religious parents. They live in a village on the Nile. His ritual blessing is interrupted by dervishes. This gives rise to the curse that he will die on his 20th birthday. Everybody in the family, school and mosque believe that this will happen. Jaiballah and Naiema are temporary companions, as is the old roughneck Suleiman who has returned from Khartoum. Finally, Muzamel stands in front of his grave. He must decide for himself: surrender to the curse, or can he escape it? Amjad Abu Alala directed from a screenplay by Youssef Ibrahim. The leads are played by Mustafa Shehata and Islam Mubarak. The Cologne-based production company Die Gesellschaft DGS produced with andolfi (FR), DUOFilm (NOR) and Transit Films (EGY) in co-production with Station Films (SDN) and Film Clinik (EGY). The Filmstiftung backed the film’s postproduction. Additional funding came from the World Cinema Fund and the Doha Film Institute, among others.
About „800 Mal Einsam – ein Tag mit dem Filmemacher Edgar Reitz“ (Venice Classics – Documentaries)
A warm-hearted and yet formally radical film portrait in black and white arises through the exchange between the two filmmakers. Apart from the person of Edgar Reitz, the communicative act, the chosen aesthetic and the cinematic process as such are at the centre of the portrait. The portrait was directed by Anna Hepp and produced by Silver Surfer Rocks filmproduktion. The Filmstiftung backed the production, additional funding came from the Kuratorium junger deutscher Film and the FFA.