"A fictional experimental set-up,
a German story, a radical drama."

Connie Walther

A headline written by a tabloid journalist helped us to hold an exceptionally large press conference during shooting. The author had vented his rage over Peter-Jürgen Boock, who as a co-writer of the screenplay had been paid partly through public film funding: “This sort of film funding constitutes a mockery of the victims.”

Beside the fact that this appears to indicate a rather dubious comprehension of the law, the interest of the media in the “myth of RAF” thrusts aside precisely whom it is pretending to protect: the victims.

Schattenwelt (Long Shadows ) is the story of an “unintentional” victim dealing with a perpetrator whom the public would not permit to be released from his history even after 22 years behind bars. She: a victim who has been forgotten alongside those of the dead who are more renowned, who cannot cope with her distorted life. He: a dubious celebrity anxious to find his way in an inconspicuous manner in a world that has become alien to him. In earlier days, he thrust himself into her life, violently; now she does not leave him alone. They have to go on with their common history, they have to get involved with each other to step from the past’s overwhelming shadows. In reality, this may be an unbearable confrontation, which a single human life might not be capable of coping with. In fiction, it constitutes a possibility.

The conflict told in Schatenwelt is takes place between people on an equal footing; it is recounted chronologically, always leaving open the option to let the story take on a new direction. Franziska Petri and Ulrich Noethen, both familiar with the project for several years, have endowed their characters with their own personalities to an exceptional degree. The protagonists are guidingthe story at every moment and create a presence in which their past is ultimately mastered. The cinematic realization of Schattenwelt was quite a challenge for me, and I hope it will be a thrilling film experience for the audience.

Movies:

2008    SCHATTENWELT, Spielfilm
2007    12 MEANS: I LOVE YOU, feature film
2006    MORD IN ALLER UNSCHULD, television film
2005    EI IN JAPAN, documentary, Expo Japan
2002-05 teaching at film academies: dffb Berlin, ifs Köln, Filmakademie Ludwigsburg
2002    UND TSCHÜSS, IHR LIEBEN, television movie
2001    IM FALSCHEN LEBEN, television movie
2001    NEVER MIND THE WALL feature film
1998    TICTACTOE..., documentary
1998    LIFE IS THE MAIN THING television film
1996    FHE FIRST TIME, television film