(hofer-filmtage) The 55th Hof International Film Festival opens with THE BLACK SQUARE
The 55th Hof International Film Festival opens on 26 October 2021 with THE BLACK SQUARE, Peter Meister’s debut feature-length film. We are delighted to be able to present a black comedy rather like a seismograph, revealing a network of relationships filled with roguery and love affairs. Bernhard Schütz, Jacob Matschenz and Sandra Hüller can be seen in leading roles.
‟Square, black and funny are not contradictions. Anything but! I am looking forward to a great opening evening with this wonderful film and its top-quality cast.” Thorsten Schaumann, artistic director of Hof International Film Festival
Art thieves Vincent (Bernhard Schütz) and Nils (Jacob Matschenz) are close to their goal: In their cruise-ship cabin they now have the 60-million-dollar painting “The Black Square”, which they are supposed to hand over to their client on board. There’s just one small unforeseen appointment to keep first, and that is on the ship’s stage. While they are struggling through their program as Elvis and David Bowie impersonators, unknown villains seize the opportunity to steal the “Black Square”…! Vincent, a wannabe painter, uses somewhat idiosyncratic methods to make an exact copy of the Malevich painting – and when that goes missing as well, he produces a second. In the meantime, the two crooks find themselves in an even tighter spot: Nils is unmasked, and Vincent is head over heels, so doesn’t notice that his acquaintance from the bar, the incredibly artistic Martha (Sandra Hüller), only wants to get close and sit for him because she’s after one thing – “The Black Square”.
The film is directed by Peter Meister, born in 1987, who began working as a freelance director and screenwriter after studying film studies, literature and philosophy in Mainz. After several short films, THE BLACK SQUARE is his first full-length feature film, the script of which already received the Tankred Dorst Award from the Drehbuchwerkstatt München in 2018. Felix Novo de Oliveira (“Wir wollten aufs Meer”) was responsible for the film’s cinematography.
THE BLACK SQUARE was produced by FRISBEEFILMS GmbH & Co KG (Producers: Manuel und Alexander Bickenbach, „Nimmermeer“ HoF 2006), in Co-Production with Port au Prince Film & Kultur Produktion GmbH (Co-Producers: Jan Krüger und Jörg Trentmann), ZDF-Das kleine Fernsehspiel together with ARTE, funded by HessenFilm, Nordmedia, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Deutscher Filmförderfond. Editors are Christian Cloos (ZDF), Olaf Grunert (ZDF/ARTE) and Daniela Muck (ARTE G.E.I.E). Port au Prince Pictures will release the feature in theaters on November 25, 2021. The cast includes Pheline Roggan, Christopher Schäfer, Victoria Trauttmansdorff and Wolfgang Packhäuser.
World Sales:
Picture Tree International GmbH, Andreas Rothbauer
» www.picturetree-international.com
This year, Hof International Film Festival is celebrating its 55th anniversary. It will be taking place from 26-31 October 2021, and with plus7streamdays we are offering you the opportunity to watch the festival movies digitally as a single release at our Streaming Festival, from the German premiere until 7 November 2021.