Die Vermissten

Germany

Synopsis

14-year-old Martha disappears from one day to the next. Her father, Lothar, has been in contact with neither his daughter nor his ex-wife for years. He soon realises that other young people are also vanishing from the city inexplicably. Lothar follows their trail across the country but makes no headway until he meets 12-year-old Lou. They continue on their journey and encounter militia groups and a reinforced police presence. Slowly, Lothar begins to realise that the world as he knew it has changed.

Director's Statement

When I started working on REPORTED MISSING, a wave of protest of the youth against the establishment had just begun gaining ground, unforeseen in its magnitude. The spark flew from the West to the Middle East and back – from Paris, Athens and Thessaloniki over to Tunis, Algiers and Cairo, followed by Madrid, Tel Aviv, and New York. It is only now that it’s starting to feel like the dynamic is slowly losing its speed. At least in the Western world it seems hard to find an alternative solution worth fighting for. Yet, everyone agrees that “something” doesn‘t feel right: We‘re living in a society that has devoted itself to the youth but at the same time makes it harder than ever for young people to assert themselves. The generation of 68 does not want to leave matters to a new generation. Our economy is dancing around the golden calf without realising that there are two stone shards of broken values lying at its feet. And there is so much more. What if, as a reaction to all of this, kids just decided to disappear, to just leave all the old ones behind to deal with the shit they‘ve gotten themselves into? If, like in the legend of the Pied Piper, all that remained of the children was the distant sound of laughter from across the other side of the mountains?
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Cast & Crew

Directed by: Jan Speckenbach

Written by: Jan Speckenbach, Melanie Rohde

Produced by: Anke Hartwig

Cinematography: Jenny Lou Ziegel

Editing: Wiebke Grundler

Production Design: Beatrice Schultz

Original Score: Matthias Petsche

Cast: Luzie Ahrens, Jenny Schily, Sylvana Krappatsch, Sandra Borgmann, André M. Hennicke

Nominations and Awards

  • European Discovery - Prix Fipresci 2012