01/03/2006

From fun-loving criminals to maestros of music: Dutch actors Egbert-Jan Weeber and Tygo Gernandt will reunite once again after their collaborations on Godforsaken [+see also:
trailer
film profile], in which they played two criminals, Anderland and the upcoming Eilandgasten (lit. "Island Guests"). This time they appear in the feature Vivere, in which they will play a musician and a club owner, respectively. The German/Dutch co-production will be directed by Angelina Maccarone and will mark the duo’s first foray into German cinema.

Cologne-born Maccarone, who received critical kudos for her tale of a lesbian Iranian woman in Germany called Unveiled [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], will shoot the €1.7m Vivere on various locations in Cologne in March, before moving to Rotterdam a month later. The film, which was written by the director, tells the story of three German women who travel from Cologne to Rotterdam on Christmas Eve because one of them is head over heels in love with a musician she spotted at a concert. Weeber, a real-life DJ, will play the musician that sets the heart of one of the women on fire, while Gernandt will play a club owner who has a wild night with one of the other women.

The German cast includes Hannelore Elsner, who played the mother in the recent box office success and multiple award-winner Go For Zucker [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Jessica Schwarz, who can currently be seen in German cinemas as an alluring poetess in the East Germany-set musical period drama The Red Cockatoo [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Judith Kaufmann, already Maccarone’s cinematographer on Unveiled, will again lens the proceedings.

The film should be ready for a premiere at next year’s Berlinale. German producer Elsani Film and Dutch Revolver could be joined by a French co-producer. The film has already received €250,000 from the Filmforderungsanstalt (FFA) and €850,000 from the Filmstiftung NRW.