Feature Film, 90 min, 1:2,35
Festivals & Awards, selection, 2017:
Locarno Film Festival & Variety Piazza Grande Award
Toronto Film Festival (Special Presentations)
German Talent Award, Hof
Synopsis
A captivating family drama about diverging ideas of fatherhood, as an unforeseen event turns a mountainside vacation into a survival trip. Although Aaron (Alexander Fehling) has been dating Lea (Bérénice Bejo) for some time, his relationship with Tristan, her eight-year-old son, remains cautious. Their holiday in the Italian Dolomites was planned as the starting point of a new life together, but a hiking trip that Aaron plans in order to win the boy's respect turns into something potentially more tragic when fog sets in and he loses the boy. Jan Zabeil carefully observes small moments that are so heartbreakingly familiar to anyone who has experienced the precarious territory of contemporary family life. Set against the majestic backdrop of the Italian mountain range, this visually striking and emotionally complex film is an intimate drama and a probing exploration of both an existential and a very real crisis.
Worldsales:
http://www.the-match-factory.com/films/items/three-peaks.html
US Distribution - Greenwhich Entertainment
http://greenwichentertainment.com/films/
German Distribution - NFP:
The film premiered at Toronto IFF 2011 and won several awards at international film festivals, among them, „Best new director – San Sebastian IFF 2011“ , "Young producers Award", Munich IFF and„Best cinematography, German Critics Association 2013“.
It screened at art institutions (like MoMA – NYC 2012, National cinemateque Mexico, Deutsche Kinemathek) – and was distributed in cinemas in Germany, Spain and Mexico.
For more infos, press reactions and online-streaming, please click:
http://www.filmgalerie451.de/filme/der-fluss-war-einst-ein-mensch/
Presse dt (Auszüge)
Es ist fraglich, ob dieses Jahr noch ein besserer deutscher Film im Kino starten wird, als dieser eigenartig unter die Haut kriechende Trip. Magnetisch! (deadline - das Filmmagazin)
Niemand sollte diesen Film verpassen, denn er ist eine Sensation, ein Wunder, das dem deutschen Kino widerfahren ist. [...] Jan Zabeil belässt diesem Kontinent seine Fremdheit, also Einzigartigkeit, und das ohne je den Eindruck von Exotik zu erwecken. Afrika steht wie ein Labyrinth vor dem Deutschen; er kann es nicht ergründen, bewältigen. Es gibt in diesem Film nicht einen einzigen Einfühlungs- oder Erklärungsversuch, und damit wird Afrika eine Autonomie zugesprochen, die man so höchstens in den Filmen der Französin Claire Denis findet. (Berliner Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau, Anke Westphal)
GER, 2015, 8 min, one-shot, 2k (Alexa), a film by Jan Zabeil
A man drives through a deserted landscape. Suddenly his car hits a person, seriously hurting or even killing him. The driver searches for the body, cannot find it - and must accept, that there is no one. Instead, he does find blood on the broken windshield.
What happens when realizing that we kill - without being confronted with the dead?
Awards / Festivals:
"Goldener Reiter" Best short Award, International Film Festival Dresden, GER
New Films / New Directors, MoMA, NYC, USA, Max-Ophüls Festival, GER, Achtung Berlin Film Festival, GER, IKFS Hamburg, GER, Ankara Film Festival, TR...
Distribution/ Sales:
Interfilm Berlin Management GmbH
Sophie-Luise Werner - Sales Manager
A film by Jan Zabeil. Premiered at IDFA, Amsterdam in 2007. Screened at over 60 international Film festivals.
Awards (Sel.)
SILVER STERLING AWARD, AFI Silverdocs, USA, 2008
BEST SHORT, Achtung Berlin Filmfestival, GER 2007
SHORTFILM OF THE MONTH 03/08, FBW Wiesbaden, GER 2008
FILM LANGUAGE RESEARCH PRIZE, Brazilian Film Festival FBCU, BR 2009
Distributed by Defa-Spektrum
GER 2007, a film by Jan Zabeil & Kristof Kannegießer
Screened at over 70 international Film festivals. Promoted via German Films in Cannes and MoMA, NYC. Sold to ARTE.
AWARDS (Sel.):
JURY AWARD 2007, Montréal World Film Festival, CAN
CRYSTAL SIMORGH PRIZE 2008 , Fajr International Film Festival, Tehran; IR
AUDIENCE AWARD, 41. Young Collection, Bremen, GER
GER 2009, 52min, doc, a film by Jan Zabeil
The film premiered at the IFA-Institute Berlin, 2009 and was shown at the Goethe-Institute in Vietnam.
exerpt: film beginning, 3min
IT/ GER 2015, 54 min, a film by Georg Tschurtschenthaler and Jan Zabeil
Premiered 04/2015 at Bolzano Film Festival, Italy
A film about "Luis Durnwalder", who was elected by the people of southern Tyrol for 25 years in a row, each time with more than 50% of the votes.
An ironic view upon the complicated relationship between people and power.
