Film Archive

Hierankl

Lene Thurner is standing on a train platform in Munich. She has to decide: back to Berlin where she lives, or toward the south, where at the foot of the Alps her family lives on the lonely farm “Hierankl”.

Lene hasn’t seen her family for years. She moved to Berlin when she was 17 after a nasty fight with her mother, Rosemarie. Now, she finally feels strong enough to return to Hierankl and face Rosemarie. Her father’s 60th birthday is a welcome reason to return, and she’ll also finally get to see her beloved brother Paul once again. She takes the train heading south.

On the same day, another surprise visitor arrives in Hierankl. Goetz Hildebrand, a friend of her parents from college days, shows up after 30 years. He knows Hierankl just as Lene remembers it and he knows how it was before Lene’s time: when he had a dramatic relationship with Rosemarie.

Lene immediately feels drawn to the stranger and she too becomes involved in a wild affair with him. Their relationship sets off a chain reaction that reaches its climax on her father Lukas’ birthday. Rosemarie invited Lukas’ mistress and officially introduces her to the guests. Rosemarie wants to bring some “warmness and order into this world”. Now Lene sees her chance to expose and clear up all the lies and secrets of Hierankl. She reveals that Rosemarie had an affair with Goetz after she married Lukas. Rosemarie’s reaction is brutal. In front of all the guests, Lene uncovers the secret of Hierankl...

Hans Steinbichler was born in 1969 in Solothurn/Switzerland. He studied Law in Passau and Film at the University of Television & Film (HFF/M) in Munich. His films include: Abstieg (short, 1996), Mono (short, 1998), Verspiegelte Zeit - Erinnerungen von Angelika Schrobsdorff (documentary, 1999), Die Germaniker - Roemisch-Deutsche Karrieren (documentary, 2000), Hierankl (2003), Der Moralist - Vittorio Hoesle entdeckt Amerika (documentary, 2003), Inseln im Chiemsee (documentary, 2003), Winter Journey (Winterreise, 2005), Autistic Disco (2007), and My Mother, My Bride and I (Die zweite Frau, 2007).
 

Genre Drama
Category Feature Film Cinema
Year of Production 2003
Director Hans Steinbichler
Screenplay Hans Steinbichler
Director of Photography Bella Halben
Editor Christian Lonk
Music by Antoni Lazarkiewicz
Production Design Doerthe Komnick, Johannes Sternagel
Producers Alena Rimbach, Herbert Rimbach
Production Company AVISTA Film/Munich, in co-production with ARTE/Strasbourg, BR/Munich, Brainpool/Cologne, Hochschule fuer Fernsehen und Film Muenchen (HFF/M)/Munich, SWR/Baden-Baden
Principal Cast Alexander Beyer, Josef Bierbichler, Frank Giering, Peter Simonischek, Barbara Sukowa, Johanna Wokalek
Casting Risa Kes
Length 93 min, 2,544 m
Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85
Original Version German
Subtitled Versions English
Sound Technology Dolby SRD
Festival Screenings Munich 2003, Berlin 2004 (German Cinema), Goa 2004
Awards German Film Promotion Award Munich 2003
With backing from German Federal Film Board (FFA), FilmFernsehFonds Bayern
German Distributor Movienet Film/Munich

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