12/08/2009

Slovak-born director Juraj Herz has completed filming on his newest production, Habermann.

Habermannis based on a true story about a German mill owner who married a Czech woman before WWII. While the Nazis sent his wife, who was Jewish, to a concentration camp, Habermann himself was murdered by Czechs seeking vengeance.

“The film has many angles, but I think it's very true to what really happened. People haven't really spoken about this period. Only now are they beginning to talk about it, and there's a lot of interest in these times in Germany, too,” Herz said. “Some things need time.”

The film stars Mark Waschke (Buddenbrooks [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Hannah Herzsprung (Four Minutes [+see also:
trailer
film profile], The Baader Meinhof Complex [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Wilson Gonzalez Ochsenknecht (of the Die Welden Kerle franchise) and Karel Roden (Largo Winch [+see also:
trailer
film profile], RockNRolla [+see also:
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film profile]).

Herz shot on location in the Czech Republic throughout the spring and summer. The film will be ready in time for Berlin, with a domestic release in March. Atlas International is handling sales.

The ambitious €3.4m project is an international co-production between Art-Oko Film, KN Filmcompany, Wega Film, EVA Finance and Werner Herzog Film. Further support came from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, the German Federal Film Fund, Filmförderungsanstalt, Österreichisches Filminstitut, ORF, and the Czech state film fund.

Herz recently presented the world premiere of his new film, T.M.A., to audiences in Karlovy Vary. The film is a psychological horror in the vein of Herz's 1969 classic The Cremator and stars Ivan Franěk (Sulla Mia Pelle, Little Girl Blue [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Lenka Krobotová (Karamazovs [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and Malgorzata Kozuchowska (Sennosc, Dlaczego Nie! [+see also:
trailer
film profile]). Warner Bros. distributes T.M.A. in the Czech Republic.