“Trümmermädchen – Germany Year Zero“, the debut film by director Oliver Kracht, will celebrate its world premiere this month at the 55th International Hof Film Festival, which will take place from October 26 to 31. It is a long-established forum that annually attracts film lovers and media representatives from all over Germany.
The film will be released in early 2022 by UCM.ONE on the Artkeim² label. The screenplay by Oliver Kracht for this cinema and TV production was awarded the Thomas Strittmatter Screenplay Prize at the Berlinale 2019. It is one of the most prestigious awards for budding film projects, presented each year by MFG Baden-Württemberg, which also funded the film. “Trümmermädchen – Germany Year Zero” is a production of simonsays.pictures GmbH in cooperation with the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, the Akademie für Darstellende Kunst Baden-Württemberg and Südwestrundfunk (SWR).
The enthralling emancipation story set against the backdrop of a new beginning in the ruins of World War 2 features a captivating Laura Balzer (nominated for the Götz George Young Talent Award at the First Steps Awards), who in this role is able to exploit her formidable acting repertoire, turning her initially distraught and stuttering Charlotte step by step into a self-empowered young woman. With the support of a terrific female ensemble, she takes us on the emotional journey of a character scarred by trauma and oppression.
Synopsis:
Germany, 1946. Hunger, rubble, returning soldiers. Charlotte is pregnant, but her beloved returnee wants neither her nor his child. To win him over and escape the threat of disgrace, she enrolls in the “Fräulein Course” of actress Gloria Deven, who was an aspiring movie starlet under fascism and is now banned from working. But Gloria, with her merciless teaching, is not interested in reviving the girls’ coquetry, which had become unnecessary during the war. Instead, she awakens in Lotte a longing for something that has been denied her for too long: Freedom.
More information about the festival: International Hof Film Festival
