Roads (film)

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Movie
German title Roads
Original title Roads
Country of production Germany
original language English
Publishing year 2019
length 99 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Sebastian Schipper
script Sebastian Schipper,
Oliver Ziegenbalg
production David Keitsch ,
Sebastian Schipper
camera Matteo Cocco
cut Monica Coleman
occupation

Roads is a German film by Sebastian Schipper , which was released in German cinemas on May 30, 2019 and in Austrian cinemas the following day.

action

In the desert of Morocco, fate brings 18-year-old Gyllen from London and almost 18-year-old William from the Congo together. William is on his way to France to look for his missing brother. Gyllen fled his family vacation with the stepfather's mobile home to visit his father Paul, a German who lives in Arcachon . Their journey takes them through Morocco, Spain and France and ends in Calais, where William is looking for his brother in the refugee camp .

production

Direction, script development and funding

Directed by Sebastian Schipper , who also wrote the screenplay with Oliver Ziegenbalg and also produced the film with his production company Missing Link Films and in coproduction with Kazak Productions, Accomplices Film, StudioCanal Film and RadicalMedia. The broadcasters from WDR, ARD Degeto and Arte were also involved in the production. Schipper had started the film, like many of his stories, as a study of boyfriendship, but this time everything was under the impression of the news from the turmoil of the new refugee movements, he went to Calais, did research in Morocco and decided to go to the real countries rotate. Ultimately, Roads tells of an unconditional friendship between two young people, set in a world that is in radical upheaval. In contrast to Victoria , where the actors' input was very high in the dialogues, Roads corresponds to the script to 99 percent, according to the director.

The film received funding of 250,000 euros from the DFFF, production funding of 450,000 euros from the Filmförderungsanstalt , 400,000 euros from the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, 350,000 euros from the Franco-German funding commission and 350,000 euros from the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW . At the beginning of 2019, the Filmförderungsanstalt also granted distribution funding of 100,000 euros.

Casting, dubbing and filming

Fionn Whitehead at the premiere for the film at the Tribeca Film Festival

British shooting star Fionn Whitehead and French actor and stand-up comedian Stéphane Bak starred in the film as Gyllen and William. Moritz Bleibtreu plays the hippie Luttger, Ben Chaplin Gyllen's father Paul.

The German synchronization was based on a dialogue book by Elke Weber-Moore and the dialogue direction by Rainer Martens on behalf of Christa Kistner Synchronproduktion GmbH, Potsdam. Constantin von Jascheroff lends his voice to Gyllen in the German version, and Imtiaz Haque to William, who comes from the Congo. Bleibtreu speaks itself in the role of Luttger.

The shooting took place between August 21, 2017 and November 3, 2017 in Morocco, here in Tangier , in Spain and in France. Because Schipper later decided to shoot at real locations from the European refugee crisis during the development of the film, the last days of shooting the film took place in Calais . Schipper would have liked to have filmed the volunteers from all over Europe, for example when they were serving food, but the French police and other authorities would not have allowed that. So he had to have extras from Paris come to Calais, also to portray the people who were hiding in the woods and dressed just like the refugees, so that they look exactly like those who try to survive a hundred meters further in real under harsh conditions . The kitchen and warehouse for clothing for the refugees on site were original, other film sets were recreated in Dunkirk . Matteo Cocco acted as cameraman . Post production took place in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Film music and publication

The film music comes from the brothers Markus and Micha Acher of the German independent band The Notwist . In addition to the piano, the electric guitar was also used.

The film celebrated its international premiere on April 25, 2019 at the Tribeca Film Festival . HanWay Films took over the world sales. On May 30, 2019, it was shown in German cinemas and the following day in Austrian cinemas.

reception

Age ratings and reviews

In Germany the film was approved by the FSK from the age of 6. The statement of reasons for the release states that although there are several dramatic scenes, such as racism or a raid in a refugee camp, which can be an emotional challenge for children from the age of 6, it cannot be assumed that they will be overwhelmed: “The situations are quickly resolved and are not formative for the overall story. In addition, elementary school children can place them in the context of the story. The focus is clearly on the friendship of the positive main characters and the humanistic message of compassion and helpfulness. "

The film scholar Hannes Wesselkämper from the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf writes that when William and Gyllen suddenly become part of a heated discourse about asylum rights and social differences and their friendship also has to deal with the end of a divided perspective, the script by Sebastian Schipper and succeed Oliver Ziegenbalg to give the characters a free space apart from moral judgments. Fionn Whitehead and Stéphane Bak filled this room with a great performance that remained authentic even in the oppressive warehouse atmosphere of Calais, Wesselkämper continued. Roads is developing a perspective on identity and interculturality that traces the problems of the “ refugee crisis ”, but cannot be used as an instrument, because ultimately the focus is on developing a young friendship under the political auspices of the European present.

The film critic Antje Wessels writes that, like the recent film Styx , Roads looks at the refugee issue in a subjective, emotional way. This can be found superficial due to the very intimate focus, which never illuminates the big picture, but mainly an individual fate, or one can praise the unconventional approach. Roads is an exciting film through and through, although not comparable to classic thrillers or crime novels . Instead, it is the premise of escape, with the help of which Schipper gives the film something impulsive: "One escapes from poverty, the other from wealth to a foreign country - and in both cases the protagonists' motives are understandable."

Vladan Petkovic from the online cinema magazine Cineuropa writes when the spoiled Briton Gyllen learns how hard the world is for the disadvantaged and the Congolese boy William realizes that the privileged are only people and that Europe may not be the best place for him after all and is his brother, the film shows a very Eurocentric point of view. This, coupled with a hackneyed finale worthy of a bad Hollywood drama, makes it clear that the filmmakers were ignorant of the essence of the underlying theme they were trying to add to their story.

From the German Film and Media Review was Roads with the predicate particularly valuable provided. The reasoning states that the journey of the two protagonists changes not only themselves, but also their relationship to one another: “Sebastian Schipper succeeds in conveying the attitude to life of the two young travelers, whose driving force is a freer life - both of them up completely different levels, but just as threatened and existential. "

Use in school lessons

In May 2019 Roads of kinofenster.de presented as a "film of the month". In addition, the online portal offers material on the film for lessons from the 9th grade and recommends it for the subjects German , English, art , ethics and social studies . In January and February 2020, the film was presented as part of the SchulKinoWochen in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Awards

Roads made it into the preselection of the German Film Award 2019 in the category of best feature film , but was ultimately not nominated.

Luxembourg City Film Festival 2020

  • Award from the schoolchildren's jury

German Film Critics' Prize 2019

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Approval certificate for roads . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 183977 / K). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ a b Tobias Kniebe: Calais end of the line. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, April 27, 2019.
  3. ↑ a b c d https://www.filmstiftung.de/news/roads-weltpremiere-im-wettbewerb-des-tribeca-film-festivals/
  4. ↑ https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/sebastian-schipper-roads-calais-film-1.4422731
  5. ↑ a b https://verlag.zeit.de/freunde/ausblick/freunde-der-zeit/roads-1-2/
  6. ↑ a b c d http://beta.blickpunktfilm.de/details/439488
  7. ↑ https://www.ffa.de/aid=1394.html?newsdetail=20190204-1351_ffa-verektiven-zwei-mio-euro-verleih-und-videofoerderung
  8. ↑ a b c https://www.cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/371331/
  9. ↑ http://www.mediabiz.de/film/news/erste-klappe-fuer-caravan-gefallen/421457
  10. ↑ https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/sebastian-schippers-film-roads-mit-klarem-blick-durch-europa.807.de.html?dram:article_id=449954
  11. ↑ https://www.epd-film.de/meldung/2019/interview-mit-sebastian-schipper-ueber-seinen-film-roads
  12. ↑ International Narrative Competition - Roads . In: tribecafilm.com. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  13. ^ Sarah Ward, Roads: Tribeca Review. In: screendaily.com, April 26, 2019.
  14. ↑ Start dates Germany In: insidekino.com. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  15. ↑ Film starts in May 2019. In: skip.at. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  16. ^ Reasons for approval for Roads In: Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  17. ↑ a b Roads. In: kinofenster.de. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  18. ^ Antje Wessels: Roads. In: wessels-filmkritik.com, May 27, 2019.
  19. ↑ Roads. In: fbw-filmbeval.com . German film and media rating. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  20. ↑ Roads: Pedagogical Accompanying Materials. In: kinofenster.de. Accessed April 2, 2020 (PDF; 4 MB)
  21. ↑ https://nrw.db-schulkinowochen.de/webanmeldung/web_film.inc.php?selectedNr=985&PNr=6126
  22. ↑ https://www.cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/387183
  23. ↑ The nominations for the German Film Critics Award 2019 have been confirmed. In: vdfk.de, January 23, 2020.