Film Archive
Moon and Other Lovers, The (Mond und andere Liebhaber, Der)
Production Report featured in
German Films Quarterly 01/2008
An actress of Katharina Thalbach’s pedigree could read the telephone book, to herself, for two hours and still turn in a riveting and award-garnering performance! So champagne corks must have flown at Mafilm when, in the words of Der Mond und andere Liebhaber producer Eva-Marie Martens, Thalbach “agreed to make the film immediately after she had finished reading the script.”
Der Mond und andere Liebhaber narrates the story of Hanna, a woman who will not take life’s set-backs and knock-downs sitting down. Instead, she takes them in her stride, picks herself up and marches onward. This is a woman who continually draws new courage from her inexhaustible will to live. Whatever losses and uncertainties come her way, she remains true to herself.
When her former employer, a cosmetics shop, goes bust, Hanna simply helps herself to boxes full of perfume. As life and politics change around her, principally the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification, Hanna battles on – through the new job at the petrol station, the steady advances from Knuti (Steffen Scheumann), right through to a trip to Turkey – until she meets the great love of her life. But Gansar (Birol Uenel) is not a free man. Hanna’s desperation leads to a very public scene and personal tragedy. Except, this is Hanna we are talking about. So she does what only she can. She picks herself up again, and starts over in new hope.
As if Der Mond und andere Liebhaber needed it, another thespian seal of approval comes from Birol Uenel, whose performance in Fatih Akin’s Berlin Golden Bear-winning Head-On still resonates.
Writer-director Bernd Boehlich studied directing at the film academy in Potsdam-Babelsberg, winning Adolf Grimme Awards for his Landschaft mit Dornen (1992) and Polizeiruf 110: Totes Gleis (1994). His previous film with Katharina Thalbach, Du bist nicht allein (2006), won the Audience Award at the Filmfest Schwerin.
Mafilm was founded in 1992 by Eva-Marie Martens, Lothar Bellag (now deceased) and Alexander Martens to put production quality before quantity. The company also dedicates itself to training young talent. Until 2002 the company worked exclusively in television (movies, series, magazine shows, reports, commercials, image films). Der Mond und andere Liebhaber is Mafilm’s first home-grown feature film. As Eva-Marie Martens says: “Of course, we are very happy that an experienced director and writer like Bernd Boehlich offered us this material. But almost more importantly: we have faith in our ability.”
SK
Category Feature Film Cinema
Year of Production 2008
Director Bernd Boehlich
Screenplay Bernd Boehlich
Director of Photography Florian Foest
Editor Esther Weinert
Production Design Justyna Jaszczuk
Producer Eva-Marie Martens
Production Company Mafilm/Berlin, in co-production with MDR/Leipzig
Principal Cast Katharina Thalbach, Fritzi Haberlandt, Andreas Schmidt, Birol Uenel, Steffen Scheumann, Bruno F. Apitz, Sarah Blasskiewitz, Oezguer Oezata, Uwe-Dag Berlin, Detlev Buck
Casting Doris Borkmann
Special Effects Olaf Skrzipczyk, Exozet Effects/Potsdam
Format 16 mm
Blow-up 35 mm, Color, 1:1.85
Shooting Language German
Shooting in Altenburg, Bad Koesen, Zeitz, Darss, Berlin, Alanya/Turkey, October - December 2007
Sound Technology Dolby DTS
Festival Screenings Moscow 2008 (In Competition)
With backing from German Federal Film Board (FFA), Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung
German Distributor Neue Visionen Filmverleih/Berlin
Contact
Mafilm Martens Film- und Fernsehproduktions GmbH
Strausberger Platz 5
10243 Berlin/Germany
phone +49-30-23 45 74 10
fax +49-30-23 45 74 12
email: info@mafilm.de
http://www.mafilm.de