A little Ruhm and several returns to childhood

by Bénédicte Prot

23/03/2012 - NFP this week has released Ruhm [trailer] in German cinemas, a film that marks television director Isabel Kleefeld’s debut on the silver screen and promises to be a success for them. Ruhm is the adaptation of Glory: A tale of mistaken identities, a novel by the talented young German-Austrian writer Daniel Kehlmann (acclaimed worldwide for Measuring the World) and tells six of his tales, all variants on the theme of fame that blur the boundaries between reality and fiction.

In the film, the destinies of six unrelated characters – including a shy, slightly modern engineer, a dying woman, a writer, and a film star – become intertwined after one of them acquires a mobile phone. Suddenly, the star exchanges her life against that of her look-alike, the writer sees the concrete effects of his books... Ruhm, a mosaic film featuring Senta Berger, Heino Ferch (Jerry Cotton, Vincent Wants to Sea) and Justus von Fonhnányi, brings together successful director Sönke Wortmann’s production company, Little Shark Entertainment, Terz Film, also based in Cologne (where the film’s grand premiere was held on Wednesday night with the entire team), DOR Film (Austria), and Hugo Film (Switzerland).

Meanwhile, Senator is counting on the success of Was weg is, is weg, renowned actor and screenwriter Christian Lerch’s first film as a director. This deutschfilm production, set in the 1980s, features three completely different brothers brought together again after twenty years: Hansi (the ex-Shooting Star who became famous, Maximilian Brückner), Lukas (his brother Florian Brückner) et Paul (songwriter Mathias Kellner).

Constantin this week is releasing a film for children with Das Haus der Krokodile [trailer] by Philippe Stennert et Cyrill Boss. The film, which tells the story of a young boy’s exciting investigation in the city that he just moved to, was produced by Christian Becker for famed Munich-based production company Rat Pack (known for The Wave [trailer] and The Crocodiles [trailer], and whose film Türkisch für Anfänger [trailer] is now doing extremely well at the German box office).

Filmgalerie has released Der Preis by Elke Hauck, a Schiwago production unveiled in Berlin last year whose hero is an architect who wins a competition to remodel an entire town. It just happens to be his home town and the scene of tragic events in his past.

The two other new European films this week are the Norwegian children’s film Magic Silver 2 [trailer] by Arne Lindtner Næss (distr. Kinostar) and French co-production Where Do We Go Now? [trailer] by Lebanese director Nadine Labaki (Tobis).

(Translated from French)