Six North German film gems in Berlin

Helge AlbersCEO of Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein: "An extraordinary Berlinale with an extraordinary selection of films! Our congratulations go to all the supported film teams. Our fingers are also crossed for the Studio Hamburg Production Group, which is represented in this year's Competition."

Tim Fehlbaum's science fiction filmTides can celebrate its world premiere as a Berlinale Special. The story of the film is set in the near future after a global catastrophe. The leading role in the German-Swiss production is played by Nora Arnezeder ("Mozart in the Jungle"). "Tides" was shot in the Offtec company's film water tank in North Friesland and in the Wadden Sea off Hamburg-Neuwerk, among other locations. The FFHSH supported the Berghaus-Wöbke production with 300,000 euros.

"Unorthodox" Director Maria Schrader can be proud ofI am your human being hope for a bear. The melancholy comedy about scientist Alma and humanoid robot Tom will be screened in competition at the Berlinale and was produced by Hamburg-based Letterbox, a subsidiary of the Studio Hamburg Produktion Group. The cast includes Maren Eggert, Dan Stevens, Sandra Hüller and Hans Löw.

In the "Encounters" section, the anti-fascist vampire comedyBloodsuckers by Julian Radlmaier. In a fashionable Baltic seaside resort in 1928, the Russian aristocrat Lyovushka meets the young factory owner Octavia while on the run from the Soviets. A summer romance is in the offing. The only problem is that there are vampires in the neighbourhood and neither Lyovushka nor Octavia are who they claim to be. The Faktura Film production was largely shot in the Rendsburg-Eckernförde district. The film subsidy supported the project with a total of 250,000 euros in production and distribution.

Three subsidised productions will be shown in the "Panorama":

A good 20 years after her documentary Gendernauts, filmmaker Monika Treut returns inGenderation (Hyena Films) returns to San Francisco to reunite with the transsexual protagonists of her classic film. Treut has been shaping feminist and lesbian cinema since the 1980s and received the Special TEDDY Award at the 2017 Berlinale for her life's work. The film has been funded with 100,000 euros.

The German-Italian-Danish co-productionHuman Factors by Directors and Script Writer Ronny Trocker has already celebrated its US premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The main producer is Zischlermann Filmproduktion, based in Berlin and Lübeck, with actors including Mark Waschke and Sabine Timoteo in front of the camera. A large part of the film, which received 300,000 euros in production funding, was shot in Hamburg, including in Bergstedt and the Oberhafen district.

WithThe world will be a different place (Copilot) Anne Zohra Berrached tells the story of a passionate amour fou between two students in Germany in the 1990s, which leads unnoticed to a catastrophe. Berrached wrote the script together with Stefanie Misrahi. Filming took place on Hamburg's Reeperbahn, among other locations. The FFHSH supported the Razor Film production with 225,000 euros.

Photo: Dirk Michael Deckbar/Berlinale