Chandani and her elephant

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Movie
German title Chandani and her elephant
Original title Chandani: The Daughter of the Elephant Whisperer
Country of production Germany , Sri Lanka
original language Sinhala
Publishing year 2009
length 86 minutes
Age rating FSK 0
Rod
Director Arne Birkenstock
script Arne Birkenstock
production Arne Birkenstock,
Thomas Springer,
Helmut G. Weber
for Fruitmarket Kultur und Medien GmbH & Tradewind Pictures GmbH
music Dürbeck & Dohmen
camera Marcus Winterbauer
cut Felix Bach ,
Tim McLeish
occupation

Chandani and her elephant is a German documentary film by the Cologne director Arne Birkenstock , filmed in Sri Lanka until October 2008 in the Pinnawala elephant orphanage and in the Udawalawe National Park . The cameraman was Marcus Winterbauer, who u. a. already with the extremely successful theatrical documentaries Rhythm Is It! and Full Metal Village ran the camera. The music for the film was composed by Dürbeck & Dohmen , while Felix Bach and Tim McLeish were responsible for editing. The film was produced by the Cologne-based production companies Fruitmarket Kultur und Medien and Tradewind Pictures in cooperation with SWR , WDR , ARTE and YLE TV2. As a co-producer, Dr. Peter Bach the production of the film. The film was funded by the Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen , the Filmförderungsanstalt , the German Filmförderfonds and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media . The film started on November 4, 2010 in the distribution of Real Fiction Films in German cinemas.

content

The documentary tells the story of the 16 year old Chandani from Sri Lanka. Her father is a respected Sunamabanda mahout, a Mahut in elephant orphanage in Pinnawala . This profession has always been reserved for men. Nevertheless, Chandani wants to follow in her father's footsteps, which the latter initially refuses. But since he has no son to whom he can pass on his family knowledge, Sunamabanda decides to give his daughter a chance: She should look after the elephant calf Kandula and thereby prove that she is serious about her wish. Chandani shows great talent in dealing with the animal and is an inquisitive student, but her father's colleagues disapprove of the violation of tradition. Only the gamekeeper and former Mahut Mohammed Raheem, who works in the Uda Walawe National Park, supports the girl. When Chandani is allowed to take part in a perahera, a Buddhist procession, with her elephant, she seems to have come a little closer to her goal. But there is still a long way to go before she can fulfill her dream.

Reviews and awards

Chandani and her elephant started with 30 copies in November 2010. Initial reviews rate the film consistently positive and welcome the experiment of a full-length documentary film for children. The Hamburger Abendblatt praises the film as a “wonderful, very child-friendly documentary on the subject”, Film.de describes the film as “an endearing experience for animal lovers who learn a lot about elephants,” and this in a “touching, but never kitschy” way Art ". And Joachim Kurz writes about the film on the film portal Kino-Zeit: “Arne Birkenstock's semi-fictional documentary Chandani and her elephant is a children's film that is not seen very often. Despite its seemingly quite simple story and the plain and straightforward staging, it offers a lot of insights and touches on numerous topics without getting bogged down or appearing fragmentary. We get a coherent impression of life in Sri Lanka and the difficulties the girls there in asserting themselves in a world that is still patriarchal. At the same time, the film is fascinating as a loving description of the endangered profession of the mahout and as a very personal portrayal of the relationship between humans and animals in a strange and exotic world that one quickly learns to understand. (...) And so Chandani and her elephant is a lovely and loving children's film that should appeal to girls in particular and that at the end moves both young and old viewers to tears. The amazing thing: Even those who are usually used to normal children's and youth films will get their money's worth with this story of a girl who prevails against all odds. Even if the problems of girls in this country may be completely different from those in distant Sri Lanka - Chandani's courage to stand up for her dreams can certainly serve as a model to pursue his path with determination. "

The film was shown in the competition of the children's film festival Goldener Spatz , the NaturVision festival , the Leipzig film art fair and the Lünen cinema festival . At the Chicago International Children's Film Festival, the largest children's film festival in the world, the film was awarded first prize for the best documentary film by a children's jury. VISION KINO , the network for film and media competence of the Filmförderungsanstalt , Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media , Deutscher Kinemathek and "Kino macht Schule" recommends the film for work with children and young people in school and published it in November as a monthly film tip. In February 2011, the Berlin Children's Cinema Office voted the film “Children's Film of the Month”. For 2011, “Chandani and Her Elephant” was also invited to compete by SPROCKETS, the Toronto International Film Festival's international children's film festival . In 2011, Chandani and her elephant won the German Film Prize in the category of best children's and youth film .

The audio description of the film produced by Arte and the German Hörfilm GGmbH for television broadcasts and spoken by Uta Maria Torp was awarded a special prize by the German Audio Film Prize in 2012.

More facts

Kan̆dula ( sin. කඳුල ) is also the name of a legendary elephant belonging to King Duṭṭhagāmaṇī (2nd century BC) from the Mahāvaṃsa chronicle .

Chāndanī ( sin. චාන්දනී - moonlight ) has meanwhile completed her high school diploma and an internship in the national park and is considering studying veterinary medicine.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chandani and her elephant in the audio film database of Hörfilm e. V.
  2. ↑ 10th German Audio Film Award 2012