04/05/2006

Only six distributors took the risk of distributing new titles today, the day of the release of Mission: Impossible III, expected to be a major hit at the box office. These distributors include Stardust (Warner), which is releasing the only German film of the week, Maria To Callas by Petra Katharina Wagner. Like all the films by this scriptwriter/director, the film was produced by Moonfilm, the Berlin company in which Wagner is a shareholder.

This romance tells the story of widower Jost Götz Georgewho, after the death of his wife Maria, continues sending e-mails pretending to be his wife to her pen pal, because he cannot bear telling her that Maria has died. However, Anni (Claudia Michelsen) also has little secrets. Little by little, Jost falls in love with her and decides to meet her in her hotel by the sea.

The cast also features Monika Bleibtreu (who we will see next year in Das Herz ist ein dunkler Wald by Nicolette Krebitz, with Nina Hoss), Anna Thalbach (The Downfall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bernd Eichinger
interview: Joachim Fest
interview: Oliver Hirschbiegel
film profile]) and Inga Busch (Mister Zucker [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

Two other releases this week complete the rather timid presence of European cinema on German screens: Aaltra, a Belgian film directed by and starring France’s Benoît Delépine and Gustave de Kervern (distributed by Weltecho), and Tsotsi, the UK/South African co-production that picked up this year’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar (distributed by Kinowelt).

(Translated from French)