Dream or reality?

"Cortex is the Latin word for the cerebrum and in particular for the inner neuronal layer that is responsible for our emotional life. It is the part of the brain that is responsible for our sensory images, dreams and feelings," explains Moritz Bleibtreu, who blurs the boundaries between dreams and reality in his film. "It's about a man of advanced age who is plagued by dreams of a young man." The rude awakening in this thriller begins when he wakes up and realises that his wife has become involved with this young man. Moritz Bleibtreu had the idea for the story in his head for several years. As a busy actor with over 70 cinema films to his credit, he was only able to work on the script when he wasn't filming.

In "Cortex", Moritz Bleibtreu makes use of some elements from classic genre cinema. "Genre film may be true in all its complexity when we describe early Christopher Nolan films such as 'Memento' as genre films. The style and the way it's made leans towards genre, but the narrative structure leans towards arthouse film," emphasises Bleibtreu. "At the same time, this is an auteur film through and through. The Script Writer and Directors have the courage to tell their own story - regardless of the outcome."

Successful collaboration

With this script, Moritz Bleibtreu immediately succeeded in getting Warner Bros. on board as co-producer. "They read the book and surprisingly said that they liked it and would produce the film." Executive Producer Jan Krüger joined the project with Port au Prince Film & Kultur Produktion. He already knew Moritz Bleibtreu from the production of "The Dark Side of the Moon", in which the Hamburg actor played the leading role. With their young Hamburg production company Paloma Entertainment, Moritz Bleibtreu and Emek Kavukcuoglu were initially involved in several cinema film projects as co-producers. These include the gangster drama "Nur Gott kann mich richten", produced by Constantin Film, which Özgur Yildirim cast Moritz Bleibtreu in the leading role. Paloma Entertainment was also co-producer of the debut film "Familiye", with which Kubilay Sarikaya and Sedat Kirtan won the German Independence Award at the 2017 Oldenburg Film Festival.

Unusual Hamburg film locations

Moritz Bleibtreu and Kavukcuoglu benefited from their experienced co-producers when financing "Cortex", which Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein supported with 550,000 euros during production. "When Warner was on board, it was relatively easy," says Moritz Bleibtreu. "I am very grateful to the Hamburg film funding organisation."

The numerous locations where the psychological thriller was filmed in Hamburg include the harbour, the fish market and the Elbe tunnel, in which an entire tube was closed for filming. Hamburg Location Scout Nic Diedrich found some very unusual motifs to set the visual scene for this never-ending nightmare. The young small-time crook's domicile was filmed in a listed area in the backyards of Hamburg's Neustadt district, where an old brick wall of a former synagogue stands between the craftsmen's workshops.

"The Directors didn't want the lead actor"

Thanks to his many years of filming experience, it was not difficult for Moritz Bleibtreu to take on the leading role in "Cortex" as Director at the same time. However, he hadn't planned on it. "I didn't want to play this role at all. I wanted to make the craziest and most exciting debut film possible, which I would like to see in Germany myself. It was due to my lack of experience as a Director that I wrote the book in the blue and didn't have a colleague in mind for the lead role," Bleibtreu assures us. "Once the financing for the film was in place, we only had a certain amount of time before shooting. During casting, I didn't find anyone who really clicked with me. As I didn't want to cast someone I wasn't entirely sure about in this role, I decided to play it myself. But the Directors didn't want the lead actor. But I'm very happy with it now."

The world premiere of "Cortex" at the Filmfest Hamburg is a home game for him. But for the first time, he is also the Script Writer, Executive Producer, Director and lead actor. "It made me personally very happy to be able to shoot my first film in my home city," emphasises Moritz Bleibtreu. "I would like to continue shooting films in Hamburg and, above all, more cinema. That would be great."