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PRODUCTION TEAM
Director :
Vanessa Jopp
Script :
Vanessa jopp, Oliver Simon, Christoph von Zastrow
Photography :
Judith Kaufmann
Editor :
Martina Matuschewski
Cast :
Robert Stadlober, Jana Pallaske
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ENGEL & JOE
It's love at first sight when Engel, 17, meets 15-year-old Joe in the square in front of the Cologne cathedral, where all the city's street kids hang out. Joe has just run away from home, leaving her unstable mother and her obnoxious lover. She is delighted by her new-found freedom, but she keeps her future in mind and stays in school. Engel, who swears that he will soon find work, charms her with his sentimental dream of setting up an anarchist commune in the Tyrolean mountains. But everyday life soon dispels their euphoria. Having grown up an orphan, Engel is afraid that Joe will eventually up and leave him. He stills his fears with drugs, alcohol and an affair with another girl. When Joe hears that he cheated on her, she is furious and leaves. Racked with guilt, Engel runs amok and earns a short stay in a detention centre for his troubles. Joe is still deeply hurt and becomes increasingly withdrawn. At a party, after having too much to drink, she lets Alex, who had always fancied her, to drag her off to bed. Eight weeks later Joe comes to meet Engel at his release from detention. She's pregnant, she tells him, and Engel is overjoyed. Even Joe's admission that someone else might be the father doesn't temper his happiness. Engel promises to get a job so that they'll have a roof over their heads when the baby is born. They'll be starting a new life. Things will be different. They make plans...
Vanessa Jopp
Born in 1969, Vanessa Jopp studied at the Munich Academy for Film and Television (HFF). She made her directorial debut in 1994 with the short, Aquavitae. She has since directed a variety of shorts and music videos and worked for the German TV comedy show Wochenshow. Together with five other HFF students, she directed the episodic film HONOLULU (1999). Her other shorts include Alpaliens (1995), One Night Suicide (1996) and This is a True Story About a Puker on the Roof (1997). FORGET AMERICA (2000), her solo debut in features, was shown at last year's Montreal World Film Festival.
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