The broken cat

Movie
Original title	The broken cat
Country of production	Germany
original language	Persian , German
Publishing year	2018
length	93 minutes
Age rating	FSK 6
Rod
Director	Susan Gordanshekan
script	Susan Gordanshekan
production	Ralf Zimmermann
music	Sebastian Fillenberg
camera	Julian Krubasik
cut	Frank Mueller
occupation
	Pegah Ferydoni : Mina; Hadi Khanjanpour : Kian; Azar Shahidi : Mina's mother; Constantin von Jascheroff : Lars; Henrike von Kuick : Sophie; Arash Marandi : Masoud; Marzieh Alivirdi : Kian's mother; Massud Rahnama : Kian's father;

The defective cat (English title: A Dysfunctional Cat ) is Susan Gordanshekan's feature film debut . The film celebrated its world premiere at the Berlinale 2018 in the section Perspektive Deutsches Kino. The film opened in German cinemas on October 4, 2018.

action

Mina (31) lives in Iran and is relatively late with her desire to get married. Kian (34) is an assistant doctor of Iranian origin, lives in Germany and is chronically single. Frustrated by several failed blind dates, he finally accepts his mother's advice to find a wife the traditional Iranian way - through arranged talks with potential spouses. Kian is finally lucky, Mina decides for him and thus for a new life in Germany. But the long-awaited marriage turns out to be more difficult than imagining it. Although both have the best of intentions, their relationship turns out to be increasingly flawed, like the cat Mina brings into the household. A turn is only in sight as they slowly break away from the charged expectations, their own and those of friends and family.

background

Susan Gordanshekan wanted to tell a reverse love story through The Broken Cat . For her, the inspiration for the starting point of the script was the story of her parents, who got to know each other the traditional way in Iran and then lived a life in Germany, and more recent cases from their Iranian environment. According to Gordanshekan, it wasn't about giving a rating, but rather showing that relationships can end up at the same point, regardless of whether they started romantically or were planned purely rationally. The traditional way that spouses get to know each other through arranged conversations still takes place today in many Asian countries.

production

The film is a glory film production in coproduction with Arte and Bayerischer Rundfunk and is Susan Gordanshekan's feature film debut . The screenplay was funded by the Cinéfondation, the Cannes Film Festival's young talent program and the FFA. The production was funded by the FFF-Bayern and the Federal Ministry for Culture and Media. Gordanshekan wrote the script and directed . The shooting took place in Munich in spring 2017. Julian Krubasik is responsible for the camera and Frank Müller is responsible for editing. The music for the film is from Sebastian Fillenberg. Pegah Ferydoni and Hadi Khanjanpour play the leading roles .

reception

epd-Film names The Defect Cat as Film of the Month for October 2018. Ullrich Sonnenschein writes: "She [the director] takes a fresh look at the subject of couple relationships and migration. In her debut feature film, she succeeds in just playing with expected clichés and finding surprising twists and turns for the plot. Typical problems of migration and intercultural misunderstandings are shown in numerous small details, but they never outshine the individuality of the people and their respective decisions. "

Gunda Bartels writes at Tagesspiegel: “And yet it is not the script idea to make a cat the mirror image of a dysfunctional relationship that makes Susan Gordanshekan's drama The Defective Cat an eye-catcher. It is the courage with which the German-Iranian tackles two issues that are heavily burdened in Western eyes: the oriental man and the arranged marriage. ”In addition, Bartels writes:“ The few sentences, the mutual observation, the tension, suddenly with a completely unknown one Sharing the intimacy of four walls with people is an egg dance for women and men that Susan Gordanshekan precisely draws. "

Julia Teichmann writes for Filmdienst: "The humorous drama about prejudice, integration and different role models explores with a lot of sense of nuance what can go wrong within relationships, what part society contributes to it, but also each individual. The characters are extremely complex and Drawn close to life; the actors deal with it just as attentively and in detail. "

Andreas Köhnemann from Kino-Zeit writes: "Gordanshekan cleverly and with numerous fine observations combines the conflicts in the creation of a couple relationship with the topics of migration and integration. [...] Fortunately, the defective cat is not a theses film. It does not provide any pro or Contra arguments for or against his subject of arranged marriage. Gordanshekan is also obviously not concerned with escalation: neither the relationship between Kian and Mina nor Mina's attempts to orientate herself in everyday life in Germany lead to escalation Rather, Gordanshekan observes her two main characters in a pleasantly calm and precise manner while remaining completely impartial. The script depicts Kian and Mina as complex, understandable characters - and Hadi Khanjanpour (Bad Banks) and Pegah Ferydoni (Turkish for beginners, Women Without Men ) play these roles with a lot of empathy.

Hannah Lehmann writes in Die Welt: "The nice thing about this film is that it is calm, in places gently funny and at the same time so genuinely sad: It tells us about an everyday process, getting to know yourself and falling in love (not) from one perspective , that of the arranged marriage, which we normally do not know. But he is telling something fundamental that can almost as well be understood as a comment on the western idea of love today: Everything is not at the push of a button, it takes time between Mina and Kian does not take place in time-lapse as one might think, it is full of delicate embarrassments and helpless silence.

The Berliner Zeitung writes on October 4, 2018 (print edition): "Pleasantly calm, but sensitive, precisely observed, with laconic humor and poetic excursions, director and screenwriter Susan Gordanshekan tells of the slow rapprochement between a couple, of culture clash and (over- )Integration."

Harald Asel writes on info-radio rbb: "Without taking sides, the film tracks down the moments of closeness and strangeness, played very intensely and physically by the two main actors."

Christian Pogatetz writes at UNCUT Movies: “Since this cat has a defect and is accordingly difficult to control, it serves as a wonderfully interwoven symbol of the complicated relationship between the two. […] The cleverly thought-out metaphor of the faulty cat is the great driving force of the film. [...] The allegory would hardly come into its own if it weren't for the two excellent main actors. Both Hadi Khanjanpour and Pegah Ferydoni, known from Turkish for beginners, manage to skillfully bring the fears and longings that preoccupy our protagonists to the point. Ferydoni also deserves additional praise for the Iranian accent that she has given her character and which, despite her perfect knowledge of German in real life, did not seem a bit artificial. ""

Participation in film festivals

Berlin International Film Festival 2018
Shanghai International Film Festival 2018
Festival of German Films Ludwigshafen am Rhein 2018
Taipei Film Festival 2018
New Horizons Film Festival 2018
Stony Brook Film Festival 2018
Diaspora Film Festival South Korea
Sehsucht Film Festival
Rima Film Festival
St. John's International women's Film Festival
Nantes Festival Univerciné Allemand 2018
Snowdance Independent Film Festival 2019
Festival Turkey Germany 2019

Awards

On November 4, 2018, Susan Gordanshekan received the 8th German Director Award Metropolis for the best young director for Die defekte Katzen . The prize is awarded annually by the Federal Association of Directors. She also received the award for best director at the Snowdance Independent Film Festival 2019