The Swiss company tellfilm and UCM.ONE agree on a far-reaching cooperation. In the course of this, UCM.ONE will release the film “Youth Topia” by Dennis Stormer in Germany on the Artkeim² label and also market the film worldwide outside Switzerland.
The dystopian coming of age comedy “Youth Topia” – the debut film by Dennis Stormer (writer & director) and Marisa Meier (writer & producer) – tells the story of Wanja (Lia von Blarer), who is turned from an outsider into an adult by the “algorithm” that ubiquitously dominates the near future.
She leaves her exciting youthful life as a good-for-nothing behind and finds the recognition she thought was missing in her newfound dream job as an architect. From now on, Vanya’s best friends have to go around the house without her to have a good time and make a ruckus. They are the only and most precious remnant of Vanya’s former life. But without her friends, the only and most precious remnant of her past as a teenager, Wanja is terribly lonely and alone.
If Vanya wants to continue climbing the career ladder, she has to make a serious decision.
“Youth Topia” is the portrait of a young generation that is beginning to understand that a lonely path is being taken with the privilege of self-realisation. A generation that misses a community under the pressure to succeed that it has created, a generation that feels that simply being in the world is the highest form of happiness.
The film dares a lot; constant format changes, shaky mobile phone shots, a calf in the living room. It’s a raw kind of cinematography, reminiscent of popular social media content and thus constantly referencing reality. A huge, white mountain of dust rising up under Electro Pop as a film backdrop again underpins the feeling of a cinematic utopia. Anyone who has the courage to see Youth Topia’s utopian society as our own will get goose bumps.
Summary
What do a riot bride, a would-be shaman, a sensitive babyface, a forty-year-old conspiracy theorist and a sneaky party brat have in common? They are absolute good-for-nothings who together defy the social trend of self-realisation. Wanja, Greta, Sören, Maul and Leona clutter up their social media with antisocial content day in, day out. This is how they prevent the ubiquitous algorithm from calculating a dream job for them. The only plan they have is to hang out as so-called long-term youths, surrounded by successful adults.
Wanja regularly oversteps the mark and so everyone is really surprised when, out of the blue, the algorithm offers her the very job of her dreams in an architecture firm. Now she thinks she’s particularly clever and believes she can have both; a glittering career with all the privileges of the adult world and the dopamine-rich party life in the arms of her dorky best friends. Contributing, being praised and being the high flyer in the office feels unexpectedly good. In return, Wanja accepts that drugs are less fun because they are now consumed legally and that she can’t sleep at night because she feels lonely.
She dutifully climbs the career ladder and only hesitates when the next step means the ultimate betrayal of her friends. That’s when the young adult begins to understand that the brainwashed youth are still better off than the adults because they preserve a rare commodity; community. Vanya does everything she can to preserve this community and is willing to become youthful again to do so.
Data about the film
| Title: | Youth Topia |
| Director: | Dennis Stormer |
| Screenplay: | Marisa Meier & Dennis Stormer |
| Producer: | Marisa Meier, Katrin Renz, Stefan Jäger, Reiner Krausz, Vita Spieß |
| Actors: | Lia von Blarer (Wanja), Elsa Langnäse (Greta), Lou Haltinner (Leona), Saladin Dellers (Sören), Jürg Plüss (Maul), Nicolas Rosat (Jochen), Timon Kiefer (Lukas), Regula Imboden (Eva), Nadim Ben Saïd (Herr Michael), Sabrina Tannen (Cornelia) |
| Genres | Comedy, Science-Fiction |
| Countries: | Germany & Switzerland |
| Year of production: | 2021 |
Comments about the movie
“Dennis Stormer’s film is a successful satire of society (…). It presents a reality that could just as well have been taken from the well-known series “Black Mirror””.
“Youth Topia” fulfils its purpose: to build a bridge between generations. Dreamy, dystopian, yet profoundly real, the film encourages the audience to think about what kind of adults we want to become.” (Alejandro Manjon, www.cineman.ch)
More information about the film label: Artkeim²
