Germany

Synopsis

Teacher Antek Liebmann moves to the French countryside in an attempt to leave his former life in Germany behind.
He soon gets a job and finds himself in a new relationship. But the strange energy of a near-by artists residency and an unexpected visitor from Germany make him realize he cannot escape his memories. He must find a way of confronting the ghosts of his past.

Director's Statement

There is a magical place in Picardy where the peacock calls and wonderful things are created almost spontaneously. I wanted to make a film here, as both an experiment and creative adventure and while working as intuitively as possible.
The time between the decision to make the film and the actual shoot was exactly one month, with the shoot lasting two and a half weeks. There were 27 small pieces of paper with scene ideas (which are, by the way, on the table by the window in the Apple room scene), three team members and seven performers.
Blank spaces in the script such as "he watches a performance show that is evoking something dark in him" were gradually filled with impromptu creative gifts.
One of the narrative excursions was planned in advance, while the others were added during the shoot.
I wanted to play with the film’s form, as I find too few narrative films dare to do this. The content lent itself to this idea, which was sometimes concrete (letter boards) and sometimes vague ("something with colours").
We filmed the plumage of the peacock because I somehow knew it would fit into the film’s narrative. It was when the peacock died shortly after our departure that I had the idea to use its feathers as a metaphor and source of inspiration.
The power of creativity made our experiment succeed and showed our main protagonist the way out of his crisis.
I wish for more movies that break new ground, as well as for an audience that wants to share this experience.

Director's Biography

Jules Herrmann is a graduate of the director study programme at the "Konrad Wolf" Academy of Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. She had previously graduated in business administration.
Between the business administration and director's studies, Herrmann worked as a production manager (Egoli Films / Discovery Channel), post-production manager ("Souzou River" by Lou Ye) and as a DJ and video reporter.
Her diploma short film TIME OUT was co-produced with RBB and shown at the Berlinale. It also competed in the film festival Max Ophüls Prize and won the Grand Prix of Oskariada in Warsaw.
In 2009, Herrmann went to South Korea and made the essay film SEOUL LOST AND FOUND. Next, she completed several video installations and worked as dramaturgical consultant, with her most recent project being the feature film ART GIRLS by Robert Bramkamp in 2013.
Hermann served as co-producer, artistic consultant and editor on the feature film THE STORY OF THE ASTRONAUTS, which was the directorial debut of Godehard Giese. The film was shown in competition at the film festival Max Ophüls Prize and won several awards. It ran in German cinemas in December 2015.
Jules Herrmann lives in Berlin and LIEBMANN is her first full-length feature film.

Filmography:
2009 - SEOUL LOST AND FOUND
2006 - AUSZEIT, short
2002 - SKYWALKER, short
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Cast & Crew

Directed by: Jules Herrmann

Written by: Jules Herrmann

Produced by: Torsten Reglin, Roswitha Ester, Jules Herrmann

Cinematography: Sebastian Egert

Editing: Jules Herrmann

Production Design: Nicola Minssen

Original Score: Christian Halten

Sound Design: Michal Krajczok

Cast: Godehard Giese (Antek Liebmann), Adeline Moreau (Geneviève), Fabien Ara (Sébastien), Bettina Grahs (Ines)

Nominations and Awards

  • European Discovery - Prix Fipresci 2016