Platz im Schatten - In the shade
Short Film
D 2007, 15 Min., 35mm / Digi Beta, Dolby SR
A production of Film and Television Academy (HFF) - Konrad Wolf
It's summer and time stands still. In their vacation home, eight year old Nele is lonely and her parents are concerned with their own affairs. Soon she is fed up with the agonizing, silent boredom and starts to take matters into her own hands. She rambles through the countryside in desperate search of change in her life.
with Marlon Weber, Angret Engelmann, Michael Danisch, Lukas Oldach
screenplay / director Sophie Narr
Produktion manager René Frotscher
DOP Nikola Wyrwich
Set design Robert Zeise, Franziska Rufledt
Costume Gabriela Krampe
Sound Design / Mix Johannes Scherzer
Editing Antje Lass
Line Producer Holger Lochau, Anja Grünewald
Festivals & Awards
2010
• 16. Ingolstädter Künstlerinnentage
2008
• Short Film Festival - Prädikatwertvoll - BEST FILM
• 27. Int. Studentenfilm Festival Sehsuechte
• 18. Bamberger Short Film Festival
2007
• 53. Short Film Days Oberhausen
• AluCine Latin@Media Festival, Toronto
• Bianco Film Festival, Perugia
• Amirani Student Int. Film Festival, Georgia - BEST SOUND AWARD
• Slow Film Festival, Hungary - BEST SHORT FICTION AWARD
• Fresh Film Fest, Karlovy Vary
• Aye Aye Film Festival, France
• 14th Blue Sea Film Festival, Finnland
• Monterry Int. Film Festival, Mexico
• 9th Morbengo Film Festival, Italy
• Asolo Int. Art Film Festival, Italy - BEST SCHOOL OF CINEMA PRODUCTION AWARD
• Next Reel Film Festival, Singapore - CINEMATOGRAPHY AWARD
• Film Festival Münster
• Fano Int. Film Festival - 2. PRIZE VIDEO SECTION
• Mediaschool 2007 - 14th Int. Film & TV Schools' Festival, Lodz - SPECIAL JURY'S MENTION
• 24. Video/Film Tage - HANS W. GEIßENDÖRFER NACHWUCHSPREIS
• interfilm - 23. Int. Short Film Festival Berlin
• Formula Mundi - Int. Film Festival, Schwäbisch-Hall
• ZwerkWERK - 7. Oldenburger Film Festival
• L'Alternativa - Int. Film Festival, Spanien
• Etuida & Anima - Int. Film Festival, Krakau
Jury Verdicts
HANS W. GEIßENDÖRFER NACHWUCHSPREIS
A summer in the countryside. Colors, sounds and camera positions remind of French films. A girl is bored in a lonely North German cottage. The mother is mostly annoyed. And there is a man who gets beer in a bicycle trailer, meadows, woods and a rotten footbridge at the lake.
There is no point in putting the film’s content into words. This melancholic story unfolds perfectly with the rhythm of picture and sound. Narrative rhythm, staging, camera and editing engage with each other smoothly. Well balanced with the outstanding acting of the child (Marlon Weber), the cool elegance evolves to an almost floating film at rest in itself.
FILMBEWERTUNGSSTELLE WIESBADEN: PRÄDIKAT BESONDERS WERTVOLL
FBW-Gutachten:
On vacation and no one is around to play with me. The weather is nice and the boredom extensive…
The weather forecast on the car’s radio seems programmatic at the beginning of the film. Everybody went away to Antalya, Rimini and Athens. No one is around anymore to help transform the boredom. There is only the neighbors’ boy who plays the BangBangBang with his imaginary handgun.
The days go by and none of the childish actions attract the grown-ups’ attention for more then a few minutes, only bans and admonitions. This film describes the child’s world with calm, summerly shimmering and clear pictures. The summer is perceptible with its heat and lethargy.
The leading actor (Marlon Weber) playing the little girl convinces with her sometimes stubborn, seldom high-spirited and occasionally melancholic mood. The grown-ups become hardly visible and therefore a dense atmosphere evolves which lasts until the end.
Even the ending is not spectacular but reflects the course appropriately. Nothing breaks through the lethargic atmosphere. Everything is simply right in this carefully composed and thought through film.
