Film Archive

Sass

They were two brothers. Loved by the people, hunted by the cops.

Berlin in the Golden Twenties. Social unrest and joblessness share the city with incredible wealth and decadence - it is a time when everything is possible! This is the world of the working-class brothers Franz and Erich Sass, who started out in life as poor but honest men and ended up becoming Berlin's most notorious gangsters.

After carrying out a series of robberies which leave the police wringing their hands in frustration, Franz and Erich Sass become Berlin's most celebrated heroes. The newspapers report admiringly and the brothers are the talk of the town. As their fame grows, so does their fortune. Exhilarated by their success, the brothers plan a final, daring coup: Berlin's richest and most highly-guarded bank, where the Nazis also have 15 million Reichsmarks campaign funds deposited. Although they get away with the loot, they are apprehended at the Danish border. As their trial proceeds, the suspense mounts. Could this really be the end for the daring duo? To everyone's surprise, Franz and Erich are acquitted by the jury. But the Nazis won't let anybody get away with stealing from them ...

Carlo Rola , born in 1958 in Germany, began his Law Studies in Frankfurt in 1976 and earned a living working as a stuntman at the theater. Starting in 1981, he decided to focus fully on the theater and opera, and was a director’s assistant, working with, among others, Hans Neuenfels, Ruth Berghaus and Peter Stein for various productions in Hamburg, Frankfurt and Berlin. His debut as a director was in Frankfurt in 1983 with the English language performance of A Streetcar Named Desire. Also at this time, he was the production manager of numerous feature films and TV movies. In 1994, he was an instructor for Promotional Film at the “Konrad Wolf” Academy of Film & Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg, in 1999 he was an instructor for Direction at the German Film & Television Academy (dffb) in Berlin. Since then, he has directed over 60 national and international commercials, trailers and music videos. In 1996, he founded MOOVIE-the art of entertainment together with Oliver Berben. His is one of the most active German directors, shooting up to three films a year, mostly for television.
 

Genre Drama
Category Feature Film Cinema
Year of Production 2001
Director Carlo Rola
Screenplay Holger Karsten Schmidt, Uwe Wilhelm
Director of Photography Martin Langer
Editor Friederike von Normann
Music by Georg Kleinebreil
Production Design Bettina Schmidt
Producer Oliver Berben
Production Company MOOVIE-the art of entertainment/Berlin, in co-production with Constantin Film Produktion/Munich, Roxy Film/Munich, TaurusProduktion/Munich
Principal Cast Karin Baal, Ben Becker, Jeanette Hain, Henry Huebchen, Otto Sander, Juergen Vogel
Casting Drews Casting Studio, Berlin
Special Effects Effective, Flash Art/Bielefeld, Spezialeffekte Gerd Voll
Length 110 min, 3,208 m
Format Super 35, color, cs
Original Version German
Subtitled Versions English, French, Italian, Spanish
Sound Technology Dolby Digital 6-Track
Festival Screenings Berlin 2002 (German Cinema), Viareggio 2002, Tokyo 2002 (in competition), Havana 2002, Cairo 2003
Awards Best Direction Tokyo 2002
With backing from German Federal Film Board (FFA), BKM, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern
German Distributor Constantin Film Verleih/Munich

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