''Finsterworld'' is a 2013 German motion picture drama directed by

Frauke Finsterwalder Frauke Finsterwalder (born 15 December 1975) is a German film director and screenwriter. Finsterwalder has directed several shorts and documentaries and is the director of the 2013 feature film ''Finsterworld''. Her second feature film, ''Sisi & ...

and co-written by Finsterwalder and

Christian Kracht Christian Kracht (; born 29 December 1966) is a Swiss author. His books have been translated into more than 30 languages. Personal life Kracht was born in Saanen in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland. He attended Schule Schloss Salem in Baden-Wür ...

, starring

Margit Carstensen Margit Carstensen (born 29 February 1940) is a German theatre and film actress, best known outside Germany for roles in the works of film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Theater career Carstensen, the daughter of a physician, was born and rai ...

Sandra Hüller Sandra Hüller (; born 30 April 1978) is a German actress. She gained critical praise for her portrait of Anneliese Michel in Hans-Christian Schmid's drama ''Requiem'' (2006), and is best known internationally for her starring role in Maren Ade' ...

Corinna Harfouch Corinna Harfouch (; née Meffert; 16 October 1954) is a German actress. Life and work Harfouch was born in Suhl, East Germany, the daughter of the teacher Wolfgang Meffert and his wife Marianne (née Kleber). She worked as a nurse and studi ...

, Christoph Bach,

Carla Juri Carla Juri (born 2 January 1985) is a Swiss actress. Her acting credits include ''180°'', '' Wetlands'', ''Finsterworld'' and '' Blade Runner 2049''. Early life and education Juri was raised in Ambrì, a village in the Italian-speaking Cant ...

, and

Jakub Gierszał Jakub Gierszał (born 20 March 1988) is a Polish actor. His screen debut was in 2009, playing the role of Kazik in the film '' All that I love'' (Polish: Wszystko, co kocham). He later starred in the film '' Suicide Room'' (Polish: Sala Samobójc ...

Plot

''Finsterworld'' is an ensemble piece with twelve main characters who are gradually shown to interconnect with each other. These include a pedicurist, three generations of the Sandberg family, and a documentarist and her policeman boyfriend, who is secretly a furry.

Production and release

The film was shot at various locations in

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

and

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

. Its world premiere was at the 2013

Montréal World Film Festival The Montreal World Film Festival (WFF; french: le Festival des Films du Monde) was one of Canada's oldest international film festivals and the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the FIAPF (although the Toronto Internat ...

. It opened in German cinemas in October 2013, in Austria in January 2014 and in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

in March 2014.

Soundtrack

The film features an original score by composer Michaela Melián, singer of the German new wave band

FSK FSK may refer to: * FSK (band), a German band * Federal Counterintelligence Service, (Russian ') of Russia * Fiskerton railway station, in England * Forskolin, a diterpene * Forsvarets Spesialkommando, a Norwegian special forces unit * Fort Scott M ...

, and is bookended by the song "The Wind" by

Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and, later in ...

Critical response

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' praised its "sophisticated screenplay", "beautiful camerawork" and "very solid line-up of actors". ''

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter Allg ...

'' called it a "masterpiece", while

Letterboxd Letterboxd is an online social networking service co-founded by Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow in 2011. It was launched as a social app focused on sharing opinions about, and love of film, and is maintained by a small team in Auckland, New ...

writes "Somewhere between a sylvan paradise lost and a

realpolitik ''Realpolitik'' (; ) refers to enacting or engaging in diplomatic or political policies based primarily on considerations of given circumstances and factors, rather than strictly binding itself to explicit ideological notions or moral and ethical ...

nightmare come true lies Finsterworld's Germany. Its fantastical inhabitants feel so familiar, it's uncanny. They're neighbors, fathers and boys you went to school with. It hits too close to home. Perhaps we should bury that movie deep in the forest where nobody will ever find it. Or perhaps we should allow its haunting veracity to breathe."

Awards

It won the Bronze Zenith at the 2013

, as well as the 2013 TV-Spielfilm-Award at Germany’s

Cologne Conference The Film Festival Cologne (formerly: Cologne Conference) is an international Film and Television Festival that takes place annually in Cologne, Germany. With about 10.000 visitors, the Film Festival Cologne is considered as the best attended festi ...

. At the 2013

Zurich Film Festival Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) is an annual film festival that has been held in Zürich, Switzerland, since 2005. The festival's main focus is to promote emerging filmmakers from all over the world. In three competition categories only first, second ...

, it won the Critics' Choice award, and prize for the best German-language feature film. The film was nominated for best fiction debut at

Camerimage The International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography Camerimage () is a festival dedicated to the celebration of cinematography and recognition of its creators, cinematographers. The first seven events (1993–1999) were held in Toruń, ...

festival in Poland. It has also garnered nominations for best feature film debut at Munich’s 2013

Filmfest München The Munich International Film Festival (german: Filmfest München) is the largest summer film festival in Germany and second only in size and importance to the Berlinale. It has been held annually since 1983 and takes place in late-June/earl ...

and three nominations for the 2013

Preis der deutschen Filmkritik The Preis der deutschen Filmkritik is a prize given by the German Film Critics Association, awarded to the best German films of the past year. The Preis der deutschen Filmkritik is the only German film prize issued exclusively by film critics. The ...

, winning best German screenplay, as well as five nominations for the

Deutscher Filmpreis The German Film Award (), also known as Lola after its prize statuette, is the national film award of Germany. It is presented at an annual ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the German film industry. Besides being the most important ...

, with

winning best supporting actress. In 2014, it won best female directed film at

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...

, as well as a nomination for the

Fipresci The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for Fédération Internationale de la PRESse CInématographique) is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world fo ...

Prize at the

Jerusalem Film Festival The Jerusalem Film Festival ( he, פסטיבל הקולנוע ירושלים, ar, مهرجان القدس السينمائي) is an international film festival held annually in Jerusalem, It was established in 1984 by the Director of the Jerusal ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control German drama films 2013 films 2010s German films Furry fandom