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Finsterworld

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Finsterworld
Film poster
Directed byFrauke Finsterwalder
Written byFrauke Finsterwalder
Christian Kracht
StarringMargit Carstensen
Sandra Hüller
Corinna Harfouch
Christoph Bach
Carla Juri
Jakub Gierszał
Release date
  • August 30, 2013 (2013-08-30) (Montréal World Film Festival)
CountryGermany
LanguageGerman

Finsterworld is a 2013 German motion picture drama directed by Frauke Finsterwalder, her debut feature film. Co-written by Finsterwalder and Christian Kracht, it follows interconnected, parallel stories over the course of one day in Germany.

The title Finsterworld is a play on Finsterwalder's surname, which can be translated to English as "resident of the dark forest".

Premise

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Finsterworld is an ensemble piece with twelve main characters[1] who are gradually shown to interconnect with each other. These include a pedicurist, three generations of the Sandberg family, and a documentarist and her policeman boyfriend, who is secretly a furry.

Cast

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Production and release

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The film was shot at various locations in Bavaria and Tanzania.

Its world premiere was at the 2013 Montréal World Film Festival.[2][3]

It opened in German cinemas in October 2013, in Austria in January 2014 and in Switzerland in March 2014.[4]

Soundtrack

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The film features an original score by composer Michaela Melián, singer of the German new wave band FSK, and is bookended by the song "The Wind" by Cat Stevens.

Critical response

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The Hollywood Reporter praised its "sophisticated screenplay", "beautiful camerawork" and "very solid line-up of actors".[2] Die Welt called it a "masterpiece",[5] while Letterboxd writes "Somewhere between a sylvan paradise lost and a realpolitik nightmare come true lies Finsterworld's Germany. Its fantastical inhabitants feel so familiar, it's uncanny. They're neighbors, fathers and boys you went to school with. It hits too close to home. Perhaps we should bury that movie deep in the forest where nobody will ever find it. Or perhaps we should allow its haunting veracity to breathe."[6]

Awards

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It won the Bronze Zenith at the 2013 Montréal World Film Festival, as well as the 2013 TV-Spielfilm-Award at Germany’s Cologne Conference.[7] At the 2013 Zurich Film Festival, it won the Critics' Choice award, and prize for the best German-language feature film. The film was nominated for best fiction debut at Camerimage festival in Poland.[8] It has also garnered nominations for best feature film debut at Munich’s 2013 Filmfest München and three nominations for the 2013 Preis der deutschen Filmkritik, winning best German screenplay,[9] as well as five nominations for the Deutscher Filmpreis, with Sandra Hüller winning best supporting actress. In 2014, it won best female directed film at Edinburgh International Film Festival, as well as a nomination for the Fipresci Prize at the Jerusalem Film Festival.

References

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  1. ^ Schröder, Christian. "Nebel mit Köpfen". Der Tagesspiegel. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  2. ^ a b van Hoeij, Boyd (31 August 2013). "Finsterworld: Montreal Review". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  3. ^ "FINSTERWORLD - World Film Festival Montreal 2013 international premiere". www.filmfestivals.com. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  4. ^ "Christian Kracht wurde in der Schule als "Hydromane" verdächtigt". Focus.de. 13 October 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  5. ^ Rosenfelder, Andreas (14 October 2013). "Tristesse Royale im Konzentrationslager". Die Welt. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  6. ^ "Finsterworld". Letterboxd.
  7. ^ "Spielfilm-Award". Cologne-conference.de. Archived from the original on 10 December 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  8. ^ Mitchell, Wendy (6 October 2013). "Zurich winners include Golden Cage, Finsterworld". Screendaily.com.
  9. ^ "Finsterworld". Vdfk.de.
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