German Distribution:
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CLUJ-NAPOCA (RO):
GERMAN FILM DAYS
Wednesday, 11 December 2019
"Leif in Concert - Vol.2" is a declaration of love to music and to that one bar around the corner that everyone knows, that home away from home, where you can be who you are, and where there are no class distinctions.
Story
Sometimes life forces us to take a turn and start on a new path.
Leif is supposed to play a concert - in a jazz & blues bar somewhere in Germany. His stage name is Poorboy and he is from Copenhagen. Copenhagen is also where Lene first saw him on stage. Fascinated by Leif’s music, she invited him to play a show at her bar in Germany.
"Leif in Concert - Vol.2" is a day in Lene’s life, the day of the planned concert. It is also Lene’s first shift after a long break. At the bar on this day, Lene meets friends, acquaintances and strangers. She awaits deliveries of beer, wine and cigarettes. Lene allows some of her musician friends to use the bar’s stage for their rehearsal. Everyone who enters the bar that day gets to listen to Leif’s music. The music triggers something different in everybody: a smile, a memory, the desire to dance.
A bar would be nothing without its regulars. That’s why Leif in Concert also tells their stories. In the course of the film we eavesdrop on four conversations. We learn about fairy-pop, invisible mobile phones, giant snails, and maggots feeding on dead bodies.
The stories and lives of the guests and staff, as diverse as they may seem, are intersecting here. Every detail and every anecdote contribute a piece to Lene’s larger story, to this family that makes this gloomy, smoky bar the best place in the world.
But not all is rosy in Lene’s life. She is avoiding some decisions and conflicts. What path lies ahead of her? And what if the concert cannot take place? What if some small details jeopardize all her plannings?
bar tender Lene (Luise Heyer)
It is not the wind, but the sail that determines the course.
(chinese proverb by Lao Xiang)
One-on-one Conversations
Everyone knows this situation: You are sitting in a bar talking to your friends. Suddenly you realize that you are not listening properly to your friends any more, but instead you are eavesdropping on the folks at the next table.
In the course of the film we are watching four of these conversations from the next table. Different personalities meet here and take us with them into their world, somewhere between ordinary and totally crazy. These conversations show us a different aspect of this microcosm in the bar. Because what would a bar be without its regulars? That’s why from time to time we are leaving Lene’s story behind and join them to listen.
Eight personalities portray our pub-goers. Not all of them are actors.
Amongst them are a musician, two directors, a comedian and a forensic pathologist.
Only the topics of their dialogues were given while the rest of the conversation was improvised during the filming.
Stills
Production notes
All started with the idea to make a film with friends. We saw Leif in Concert - Vol.2 as an opportunity to get together with old friends, to make new ones, and to bring everybody together in order to make a personal, charming and mesmerizing film.
Many years of combined experience in film making have taught us several important lessons:
It doesn’t take a million-Euro budget to make a great film.
During our time together at film school (Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf) we made Weltstadt, our first feature film. It went on to be screened at more than 40 festivals worldwide, winning awards in Montréal, Ourense, and at Achtung Berlin. Weltstadt was shown in New York’s Museum of Modern Art and was released in German cinemas by X Verleih AG, one of Germanys most important film distributors. At every screening we encountered a
deeply moved audience. They did not see a no-budget student film, but an authentic portrayal of social conditions in Eastern Germany. We shot Weltstadt with a little under 15.000 Euro in 30 days on 25 locations. The most important learning experience was: limit yourself. One van, three lights and tripods, a small crew functioning as a team, and the wish of everybody involved to not only make the best of the given possibilities but to realize their potential and use it to the fullest. This is what makes filmmaking a passion. It is not about the biggest fleet, the fanciest locations or the limousines for actors and director. It is simply about telling stories, and being so lucky to work with people you like, on something you care about.
We produced Leif in Concert - Vol.2 in a similar way: We had a small handpicked crew of colleagues with whom we have been working for years or with whom we have always wanted to work. We got permission to shoot in our preferred location, the legendary Yorckschlösschen in Berlin-Kreuzberg.
During 17 days of filming we created Lene’s world there. We had the opportunity to
work with amazing artists, everybody working pro bono. The film was financed with our own money, through crowdfunding, through sponsors, as well as by four co-producers. There was very little written dialogue in the script. Scenes, settings and the contents of dialogues or monologues were written out, the rest was developed with the actors on location.
Leif in Concert is a collaborative project by Christian Klandt (director, author), Frank Grützbach (writer, director), René Gorski (DoP), Inga Köhler (1st AD), Luise Heyer (actress) and Martin Lischke (producer) – a film with friends.
Christian Klandt
Idea / Director
Christian Klandt, born in 1978, grew up in Beeskow, 1.5 hours southeast of Berlin. He initially studied traffic management in Gotha (Thuringia). In 2000 he moved to Berlin, where he started working in the film industry. He began his career as assistant director for film and theatre productions. He is a co-founder of the playhouse Theaterdiscounter in Berlin, and worked as a curator and presenter for Berlin art house cinema Filmrauschpalast (Kulturfabrik Moabit). From 2004 to 2012 he studied directing at Film University Konrad Wolf in Potsdam-Babelsberg. During his time in film school he created numerous short- and medium length films, as well as two full feature films. His fairy tale Schaustein’s Final Film was highly acclaimed at several international film festivals. His critically acclaimed first feature film Weltstadt earned him 7 awards and was screened at more than 40 film festivals. In 2009 X Verleih AG released Weltstadt in German cinemas. In 2010 his tragicomedy Federal Chancellor Honecker had its world premiere at Jeonju International Film festival in South Korea. From 2010 to 2012 he worked on his second feature film Little Thirteen, a co-production between X Filme Creative Pool GmbH and ZDF. The film was widely discussed after its release in Germany and in five other territories.
Presently, Christian is working on a documentary about a Berlin theatre project with homeless people titled Ratten07, and on several fictional scripts, for example: Pusteblume (”Dandelion”, a remake of the Japanese classic Tampopo), Schaustein’s Last Movie (a full feature version of his fairy tale), and Lilea Rosa (a drama about illegal organ trafficking in Moldova, for which he received a research scholarship from the Robert-Bosch-Stiftung in 2015).
Cast
Luise Heyer
Klaus Manchen
Michael Klammer
bar tender Lene
bar owner Klaus
Kilian, Lene's co-worker
Katharina Matz
Florian Bartholomäi
Gerdy Zint
grandma Elisabeth
Elisabeth's grandson Max
bouncer Jari
Volkan Türeli
Godehard Giese
Michael Specht
bouncer Ali
wine dealer Robert
toilet guy Lolo
Bands
Karl die Große
Koerper
Tangente
Tanzkompanie
Orchestre Miniature
in the Park
Poorboy
Leif
Executive Producers
Director / Writer
Dramaturg
1st AD
2nd AD
Script / Continuity
DoP
1st ACs
2nd Unit Camera
2nd Unit ACs
Data-Wrangler
Sound Engineer
Music Recordings
Chief lighting technicians
Lighting technicians
Production Designer
Ass. Production Designer
Set-Decorator
Ass. Set-Decorators
Construction
- Crafted by Sense
Capucine Landreau
Gina Krauß
- Klara Kamm
- Sarah Huzel
- Klara Kamm
- Mike Auerbach
- Bahar Meric
- Steffi Lowski
- Alex Unger
- Renate Hasse
- Julian Karnetzky
- Silvia Voigt
- Christoph Berken
- Jörg Schreyer
- Christian Klandt
- Achille Abboud
- Paul Rischer
- Paul Rischer
- Moritz Sembritzki
- Paul Rischer
- Johannes Repka
- D Facto Motion
- Jen Cruz Ortega
- Silvia Procopio
- Annie-Céline Fischer
- Moritz Melms
- Eva Lechner
- Nemanja Jocic
- Barbara Hexges
- Martin Lischke
Leif in Concert - Vol.2
Specs
Duration: 114 mins
aspect ratio: 1:2,35 cinemascope, color
Language: German
Subtitles: English
Executive Producers
Karl-Wilhelm Kayser
Matthias Knoll
Candy Lange
Michael Menke
Heiko Philipp
Distribution:
missingFILMs
Boxhagener Str. 18
10245 Berlin
Telefon: +49 - (0)30 - 28 36 530
E-Mail: verleih@missingfilms.de
Production Company
Lischke & Klandt Filmproduktion GbR
Markgrafendamm 24, Haus 17
10245 Berlin - Germany
Tel: +49 - (0)30 - 983 984 83
Leif in Concert - Vol.2
KARL-WILHELM KAYSER
