Film Archive

Friend, The (Fremder Freund)

We were friends. Were we?

He doesn’t mention that he’s leaving, says no good-byes. He parties one last time as if there was no tomorrow and the next day simply disappears: Yunes, 22 years old, a process engineering student in Berlin, born in Yemen.

Chris, his German roommate, begins to worry. He remembers their friendship: how they first met in a Turkish grocery shop, the careful approach of two foreign cultures, the discussions about women, the great times with Julia and Nora. In cases when it really mattered, Chris and Yunes were always there for each other.

But there are also things Chris never understood: moments in which pride and anger flared up in Yunes and frightened everybody around him. Times when his thoughts seemed to be infinitely far away. And the changes in his beliefs and his behavior for which there were never any explanations.

Chris starts looking for him. Yunes’ parents in Yemen don’t know anything.
Neither does his ex-girlfriend. He broke off contact with his friends, his Islamic group has disbanded. He remains untraceable.

And then it’s September 11, 2001.

Elmar Fischer was born in 1968 and graduated from the German School of Journalism. Since 1992 he has been active as a producer, author and director for numerous German broadcasters. In 1995 he founded the production company Hier & Jetzt. His films include: Echelon (short, 2001) and The Friend (Fremder Freund, 2003).
 

Genre Drama
Category Feature Film Cinema
Year of Production 2003
Director Elmar Fischer
Screenplay Elmar Fischer, Tobias Kniebe
Director of Photography Florian Emmerich
Editor Antje Zynga
Music by Matthias Beine
Production Design Doerte Schreiterer
Producers Sabine Lamby, Giulio Ricciarelli, Michael Amtmann, Marcus Fluegge, Sven Walser
Production Company Naked Eye Film/Munich, in co-production with Shot By Shot/Berlin, in cooperation with ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel/Mainz
Principal Cast Antonio Wannek, Navid Akhavan, Mina Tander, Mavie Hoerbiger, Fatih Alas
Length 105 min, 2,876 m
Format Digital Video
Blow-up 35 mm, Color, 1:1.85
Original Version German
Subtitled Versions English, Italian
Sound Technology Stereo
Festival Screenings Munich 2003, b.Film Berlin 2003, Tuebingen 2003, Raindance London 2003, Ljubljana 2003, Luenen 2003, FILMZ Mainz 2003, Rotterdam 2004, Goteborg 2004, Berlin 2004 (German Cinema), Salerno 2004, Schwerin 2004, Durban 2004, Seoul 2004, Athens 2004, Warsaw 2004, Aiace Torino 2004, Antwerp 2004, Cairo 2004, Bratislava 2004
Awards First Steps Award 2003, German Film Promotion Award Munich 2003, Digital Vision Award b.film Berlin 2003, Audience Award Mainz 2003, Audience Award Schwerin 2004
With backing from German Federal Film Board (FFA), FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Kulturelle Filmfoerderung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
German Distributor Stardust Filmverleih/Munich

World Sales (please contact)
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80637 Munich/Germany
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