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GRAN PARADISO
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Germany
2000 / 35 mm / Color / 106 min.
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Following an accident, 19-year-old Mark is confined to a wheelchair, unable to accept that he will never walk again. When he attempts to commit suicide, his therapist, Lisa, saves him by promising to make his dream come true: climbing the ice peak of the 4061-metre high Gran Paradiso in the Alps. When financial and bureaucratic problems get in the way, Lisa comes up with a daring plan and enlists her friend and colleague Martin who works in a juvenile prison. It's a strange group that finally sets off up the mountain. There's Mark, Lisa with the mentally handicapped couple Rosi and Harpo, and Martin with the young delinquents recruited to carry Mark: Wolf, the charismatic leader of fellow inmates Edwin and Rocky, a clumsy skinhead and a streetwise Turk who are always fighting. Physical hardships are soon forgotten as prejudices and mental barriers prove a bigger problem. The quest becomes a painful test of solidarity. The very disparate characters bond as they struggle across the magnificent mountainscape. Reaching the peak is no longer an issue. They have learned new values. The people who come down the mountain are not the ones who went up.
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Script: Georg Heinzen.
Phot.: Peter Indergand.
Ed.: Inge Behrens.
Mus.: Dominic Roth.
Cast: Ken Duken, Regula Grauwiller, Gregor T�rzs, Max Herbrechter, Frank Giering, Antje Westermann.
Sales: Henrik Meyer, Letterbox Filmproduktion, Jenfelder Allee 80, 22039 Hambourg (Allemagne), t�l.: (49-40) 66 88 55 13, fax: (49-40) 66 88 55 60, e-mail: [email protected].
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Miguel Alexandre
Miguel Alexandre graduated from Munich Academy for Television and Film in 1994. His 1992 short film, About War, was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign student film. He has since directed extensively for German television -- dramas, serials and movies. His filmography includes: DER PAKT (1996), NANA (1997) and MACHT (1998). GRAN PARADISO is his first theatrical feature. |
