A snowman for Africa

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title A snowman for Africa
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1977
length 84 minutes
Age rating FSK 0
Rod
Director Rolf Losansky
script Rolf Losansky
Christa Kozik (scenario)
Gudrun Deubener (scenario)
Klaus Richter de Vroe (dramaturgy)
production DEFA
music Gerhard Rosenfeld
camera Helmut Grewald
cut Ursula Zweig
occupation

A Snowman for Africa is a DEFA German children's film directed by Rolf Losansky in 1977.

action

Karli promised the girl Asina a present some time ago that she doesn’t get - Asina lives in Coccatuttibana, Africa and has 21 braids, while Karli, a sailor, is currently on the ship “Wismar” in front of Rostock . Asina waits impatiently for Karli's return and asks her friends about a ship that must appear on the horizon, but no one saw it and even the fishermen suspect that Karli has simply forgotten Asina.

Karli, in turn, only thinks about the gift he promised Asina shortly before the ship leaves. In front of the ship, children build a snowman and Karli loads it - regardless of the ship's cook's protests - into the refrigerated room of the steamer.

The sea voyage is calm, apart from a few seasickness attacks on board. However, when the ship crossed the equator towards Africa, the snowman suddenly began to speak and run and, among other things, was doing gymnastics in the rigging . In addition, the heat is too much for it, so it has to be kept from thawing with cooling water. The coolant, however, soon runs out and so only organized supplies via radio help to bring the snowman to Africa.

The "Wismar" reaches Coccatuttibana and Asina is overjoyed with the snowman. However, happiness only lasts for a short time, as the snowman threatens to melt in the African sun and the cooling water is almost used up. With a heavy heart, Asina finally hands the snowman over to a Soviet freighter, which will bring him to the Eskimos in “Snow Country” .

production

The film premiered on October 2, 1977 in Berlin's Colosseum .

A Snowman for Africa was created in collaboration with the DEFA-Studio for Documentary Films, which was responsible for the scenes set in Africa, among other things. Most of the recordings, however, were shot on the MS “Wismar” , with the film team receiving support from the VEB Kombinat Seeverkehr und Hafenwirtschaft. The trick scenes around the snowman come from Kurt Weiler .

criticism

Contemporary critics called the film “a funny story, a little adventurous, with sympathetic characters” or “imaginative, poetic, exciting, funny, but also a little sad”.

In addition to the Hadiatou Barrys game, the animation in the film was also positively highlighted: "Under Kurt Weiler's direction, the admirable trick shots were created around the snowman, who through the remarkable animation becomes an equal play partner for the lively mimes."

For Cinema the film was "DEFA-Kitsch".

Awards

In 1978, A Snowman for Africa was awarded at the International Children and Youth Film Festival in Gijón , Spain. At the 1st National Festival for Children's Films of the GDR in Gera , the film received the children's jury award.

literature

  • F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 511 .
  • A snowman for Africa . In: Ingelore König, Dieter Wiedemann, Lothar Wolf (eds.): Between Marx and Muck. DEFA films for children . Henschel, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-89487-234-9 , pp. 238-240.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Klaus Hannuschka in: Märkische Volksstimme , October 19, 1977.
  2. ↑ Rosemarie Rehan in: Wochenpost , No. 43, 1977.
  3. ↑ Ingeborg Zimmerling in: Filmspiegel , No. 21, 1977.
  4. ↑ A snowman for Africa. In: Cinema.de, accessed on July 21, 2018.
  5. ↑ F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 511 .