Film Archive

Counterfeiters, The (Faelscher, Die)

The true story of Salomon Sorowitsch, counterfeiter extraordinaire, who was living the high life until he got arrested and shipped off to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1944. In order to survive, he agrees to help the Nazis in an organized counterfeit operation set up to help finance the war effort.

Stefan Ruzowitzky was born in Vienna in 1961. He studied Theater and History and attended film courses and seminars by such industry figures as Syd Field, Zdenek Mahler and Vilmos Zsigmond. In the first half of the 1980s, he worked in the theater as a director and wrote radio plays for the Austrian broadcaster ORF. From 1987, Ruzowitzky worked as a freelance director and author for television, commercials and music videos. In 1996, he made his feature directorial debut with Tempo, which won the Max Ophuels Award in 1997. His second feature, The Inheritors (Die Siebtelbauern, 1997), was sold to 50 countries and was the Austrian entry for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1999. Since then, he has made Anatomy (Anatomie, 2000), All the Queen's Men (2001), Anatomy 2 (Anatomie 2, 2002), The Counterfeiters (Die Faelscher, 2006), and Lilly the Witch - The Dragon and the Magic Book (Hexe Lilli - Der Drache und das Magische Buch, 2009).
 

Genre Drama, History
Category Feature Film Cinema
Year of Production 2006
Director Stefan Ruzowitzky
Screenplay Stefan Ruzowitzky
Director of Photography Benedict Neuenfels
Editor Britta Nahler
Music by Marius Ruhland
Production Design Isidor Wimmer
Producers Josef Aichholzer, Nina Bohlmann, Babette Schroeder
Production Companies Aichholzer Film/Vienna, Magnolia Film/Hamburg, in co-production with Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures/Potsdam, ZDF/Mainz
Principal Cast Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, Martin Brambach, August Zirner, Veit Stuebner, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Marie Baeumer, Dolores Chaplin
Casting Heta Mantscheff, Markus Schleinzer
Special Effects Sven Pannicke
Length 98 min, 2,695 m
Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85
Original Version German
Subtitled Versions English
Sound Technology Dolby Digital
Festival Screenings Berlin 2007 (In Competition), Karlovy Vary 2007, Shanghai 2007, Edinburgh 2007, Toronto 2007, Molodist Kiev 2007, Ghent 2007 (Opening Film), Palm Springs 2008, Hong Kong 2008 (Gala)
Awards German Film Award 2007 (Best Male Supporting Role Devid Striesow), Grand Prix Ghent 2007, Academy Award: Best Foreign Language Film 2007
With backing from German Federal Film Board (FFA), Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, FilmFoerderung Hamburg, ORF, Austrian Film Institute, Vienna Film Fund, Hessen Invest, Land Oberoesterreich, Land Niederoesterreich
German Distributor Universum Film/Munich

World Sales
Beta Cinema / Dept. of Beta Film GmbH
Andreas Rothbauer
Gruenwalder Weg 28 d
82041 Oberhaching/Germany
phone +49-89-67 34 69 80
fax +49-89-6 73 46 98 88
email: ARothbauer@betacinema.com
http://www.betacinema.com/