You might remember the first of our four Shooting Stars, Hannah Herzsprung, from her role alongside German Shooting Star colleague Daniel Kross and Kate Winslet in The Reader, based on the international best-seller by author Bernhard Schlink, who was our guest across Canada last year. A year before receiving her Shooting Star honour in 2008, 30-year-old Hannah Herzsprung was already named one of four "Rising Stars" at the 2007 Hamptons International Film Festival (alongside Blake Lively, Egbert Jan Weeber and Jess Weixler). Raised on a farm outside of Munich and relocated to Berlin for her career, she initially studied communication at the University of Vienna, but quit to concentrate on her first two major films: her multi-award winning cinematic debut Four Minutes (a two-hander with grand old dame Monica Bleibtreu) and Life Actually (where she shines alongside veteran actors Ulrich Noethen and Katja Riemann). Both films we are showing in this series on Germany’s best young actors.
Herzsprung started acting as a teenager in TV series and graduated to demanding roles portraying troubled women, oscillating skillfully between vulnerable and aggressive, from a borderline patient (Emilia) to a murderer (Four Minutes, for which she was cast out of 1200 actors and had to learn to play the piano and to kickbox), a suicidal teen (Life Actually) to a terrorist (in Bernd Eichinger's The Baader Meinhof Complex). With nearly 40 film titles to her name over an astounding 15-year career and not one to be typecast, she has recently starred in several films set in apocalyptic futures (Roland Emmerich’s Hell, Brian Synger’s soon-to-be-released digital series H+) as well as romantic comedies such as the box office hit Lila, Lila alongside yet another Shooting Star, Daniel Brühl (of Goodbye, Lenin!).
Monday, October 31, double bill:
Four Minutes (D 2006, 112 min), directed by Chris Kraus
Schubert, Mozart, Chopin and a bunch of killers. That’s life for 80-year-old piano teacher Traude Krüger (Monica Bleibtreu). The old lady has been teaching music at the women’s prison for ages. But she has never met an inmate like Jenny (Herzsprung): a killer who beats everything around her to a pulp just to amuse herself. However, she used to be a great talent. A piano prodigy even. And beneath her fierce façade, she still is. With Traude’s help, she could manage to win a prestigious piano contest.
German Film Awards, Bavarian Film Awards, Best Film Shanghai, Best Film Reykjavik, FIPRESCI Award Best Film Sofia.
Life Actually (D 2006, 103 min), directed by Alain Gsponer
"Devious fun with first-class actors." (Zitty, Berlin)
He has a wonderful family he barely ever sees. He has a great job. He has a lovely home. Then he gets fired. He treats his family as if they were his employees until the situation gets out of hand. His son Linus blows up the neighbor’s sculpture, sets fire to the house and his wife moves out...
German Film Award, German Film Critics' Award.
6:30pm (doors open 6:10pm); Cinema 4, TIFF Bell Lightbox, Toronto
Tickets $10 per night, $5 for ACTRA members; day-of at the TIFF Box Office
Open to audiences 18+
with English subtitles, 35mm and DigiBeta
by Jutta Brendemühl, Goethe-Institut Toronto
