Film Archive
Night Shapes (Nachtgestalten)
The Pope is in town and the night of his stay is anything but heavenly for some of Berlin's inhabitants. Rich and poor, down-and-outs and policemen, street kids and taxi drivers - in their search for a little bit of happiness, they all end up on an amusing and at times harrowing odyssey through the labyrinth of the big city. A bitter, hard-edged comedy set in contemporary Berlin.
Andreas Dresen was born in 1963 and started shooting amateur films in 1979. From 1984 to 1985 he worked as a sound technician at the theater in Schwerin, and then apprenticed at the DEFA studios, working as an assistant director with Guenter Reisch. He then studied Direction at the “Konrad Wolf" Academy of Film & Television in Potsdam. Since 1992, he has been working as a writer and director for television, cinema, and theater. A selection of his award-winning films includes: Silent Country (Stilles Land, 1992), Night Shapes (Nachtgestalten, 1998), The Policewoman (Die Polizistin, 2000), Grill Point (Halbe Treppe, 2001), Vote for Henryk! (Herr Wichmann von der CDU, 2003), Willenbrock (2004), Summer in Berlin (Sommer vorm Balkon, 2005), Cloud 9 (Wolke 9, 2008), and Whisky with Vodka (Whisky mit Wodka, 2009).
Genre Comedy
Category Feature Film Cinema
Director Andreas Dresen
Screenplay Andreas Dresen
Director of Photography Andreas Hoefer
Editor Monika Schindler
Music by Cathrin Pfeifer, Rainer Rohloff
Producer Peter Rommel
Production Company Rommel Film/Berlin, in co-production with ARTE/Strasbourg, MDR/Leipzig, ORB/Potsdam, SFB/Berlin, in cooperation with Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures/Potsdam
Principal Cast Meriam Abbas, Susanne Bormann, Michael Gwisdek, Dominique Horwitz
Length 104 min, 2,952 m
Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85
Original Version German
Subtitled Versions English, French
Sound Technology Dolby SR
Festival Screenings Berlin 1999 (in competition), Karlovy Vary 1999, Montreal 1999, Ghent 1999, Pusan 1999, Shanghai 1999, Chicago 1999, Havana 1999
With backing from BKM, Kulturelle Filmfoerderung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, European Script Fund
German Distributor MFA Film, Munich
World Sales
Bavaria Film International / Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH
Thorsten Ritter
Bavariafilmplatz 7
82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany
phone +49-89-64 99 26 86
fax +49-89-64 99 37 20
email: international@bavaria-film.de
http://www.bavaria-film-international.com
Category Feature Film Cinema
Director Andreas Dresen
Screenplay Andreas Dresen
Director of Photography Andreas Hoefer
Editor Monika Schindler
Music by Cathrin Pfeifer, Rainer Rohloff
Producer Peter Rommel
Production Company Rommel Film/Berlin, in co-production with ARTE/Strasbourg, MDR/Leipzig, ORB/Potsdam, SFB/Berlin, in cooperation with Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures/Potsdam
Principal Cast Meriam Abbas, Susanne Bormann, Michael Gwisdek, Dominique Horwitz
Length 104 min, 2,952 m
Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85
Original Version German
Subtitled Versions English, French
Sound Technology Dolby SR
Festival Screenings Berlin 1999 (in competition), Karlovy Vary 1999, Montreal 1999, Ghent 1999, Pusan 1999, Shanghai 1999, Chicago 1999, Havana 1999
With backing from BKM, Kulturelle Filmfoerderung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, European Script Fund
German Distributor MFA Film, Munich
World Sales
Bavaria Film International / Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH
Thorsten Ritter
Bavariafilmplatz 7
82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany
phone +49-89-64 99 26 86
fax +49-89-64 99 37 20
email: international@bavaria-film.de
http://www.bavaria-film-international.com