European Films

Upcomping German directing talent Martin Gypkens, who charmed festival audiences with his debut Wir (Us) in 2003, is currently travelling around the world for his second film called Nichts als Gespenster (Nothing as ghosts). The film is an adaptation of the Judith Hermann collection of novellas of the same name and follows several youngsters travelling around the world as they experience love (mostly badly). The script singles out five of the seven stories and presents them as an interconnected whole, courtesy of the screenplay of Gypkens.

The project (which sounds like a distant teen cousin of the Italian Manuale d’amore/The handbook of love with an Around the World in 80 Days-twist) stars a who’s-who of upcoming German talent including August Diehl (seen in the recent Berlinale entry Slumming and the upcoming von Trotta Ich bin die Andere/I am the other), Stipe Erceg (Die fetten Jahre sind Vorbei/The Edukators), Sólveig Arnarsdóttir (Ingaló), Fritzi Haberlandt (Erbsen auf half sechs/Peas at 5:30), Jeanette Hain and Wotan Wilke Möhring. Filming has started on Iceland and will continue through early July on locations including Venice, Nevada, Jamaica and Germany. The film is scheduled to be released by Senator Film in 2007.