Forklift Driver Klaus – The First Day on the Job
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''Forklift Driver Klaus – The First Day on the Job'' (german: Staplerfahrer Klaus – Der erste Arbeitstag) is a German short film from 2000 about the first day of Klaus' work as a
forklift A forklift (also called lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th century by various c ...
driver. The film is a parody of
work safety Occupational safety and health (OSH), also commonly referred to as occupational health and safety (OHS), occupational health, or occupational safety, is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and quality of life, welfare ...
films from the 1980s. The film was written and directed by Stefan Prehn and Jörg Wagner and stars Konstantin Graudus as the title role of Klaus. The narration was provided by
Egon Hoegen Egon Hoegen (28 September 1928 – 1 June 2018) was a German actor and :de:Off camera, off-camera voice artist. Early years Egon Hoegen was born in Düsseldorf and grew up at Linz am Rhein, still on the right bank of the Rhine, but approximat ...
, who was known in Germany for narrating road safety films. The film quickly became famous, thanks in part to its splatter film violence, which fans regard as comical due to its extreme and obviously fake nature. The film received several awards and was made available on DVD by Anolis Entertainment in 2003, dubbed in English, French, and Spanish.


Plot

The film is presented as a safety instruction video for forklift truck drivers and shows the first day of work for newly qualified forklift truck driver Klaus. The film highlights, in a gory manner, the dangers of unsafe operation of machinery, as well as inattention as a result of chitchatting and distraction by a female coworker passing by. Shortly after Klaus' first operation of the forklift, he nearly hits a co-worker leaving the warehouse by walking across the garage door where walking is forbidden, instead of the pedestrian exit door. While this causes no injury, it is a hint for what would be coming. As the film progresses the injuries/deaths become more brutal, beginning with things like a man falling from the forklift after he was lifted without a safety cage to hold onto but a bare wooden platform, and closing with the most violent: ending in a stray chainsaw being driven around by a severed arm on the floor, reaching and ripping through a man who had already been cut in half waist-down due to Klaus' previous accident. A gory POV shot of the chainsaw chopping through the man is shown. The warehouse's alarm bell ends up falling from its mount due to corrosion from blood stains, and lands on a head as apparent from a screaming sound. The film ends as Klaus is decapitated by the chainsaw and two men are left impaled onto the forklift prongs, screaming. The forklift drives off into the sunset as the impaled men continue to scream with the chainsaw racing after them. The closing musical theme, "Happyland", was written by French composer Laurent Lombard.


Cast

* as Forklift Driver Klaus *
Egon Hoegen Egon Hoegen (28 September 1928 – 1 June 2018) was a German actor and :de:Off camera, off-camera voice artist. Early years Egon Hoegen was born in Düsseldorf and grew up at Linz am Rhein, still on the right bank of the Rhine, but approximat ...
as narrator * Sönke Korres as Plummetting Helmut * Erik Rossbander as Werner the Knife * Till Huster as No Hands Günther * Dieter Dost as Bisected Herbert * Jürgen Kossel as Chainsaw Rudi * Douglas Welbat as Headphone Paul * Gustav Adolph Artz as Seminar Instructor * Clarissa Schröter as Secretary


Usage as a safety film

Although the film is not officially part of the German training and education system for
forklift trucks A forklift (also called lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th century by various c ...
, it has been shown by some instructors as an example of what forklift drivers should not do.


Awards

The film has won many awards, including: * The '' Canal+ International Award for Best Short Film'' at the Cinema Jove Festival Internacional de Cine València in 2001 * The ''Jury Award for Best Short Film'' and the ''Audience Award for Best Short Film'' at the San Sebastian Horror and Fantasy Film Festival in 2001 * The ''Audience Award for Short Film'' and the ''Special Prize of the European Broadcasters Jury for Best Original Idea'' at the ''
Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film The Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFFF), previously named Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film (french: Festival international du film fantastique de Bruxelles, nl, Internationaal Festival van de Fantastische Fil ...
'' in
2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
* The ''Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Award'' at the ''Day of the German Short Film'' awards in 2002 * The ''German Film Critics Award for Best Short Film'' at the ''
German Film Critics Association Awards 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 ...
'' in 2002 * The ''Jury Prize for Best Short Film'' at the ''
Fantasia Film Festival Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...
'' in
2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
(where it also won 3rd place in the ''Best Short Film'' category)


References


External links

* * * 2000 films 2000 comedy films Slapstick films 2000s parody films German black comedy films German parody films German comedy short films German splatter films 2000 short films 2000s German films {{2000s-Germany-film-stub