Short Film Grand Prix Competition
World Premiere

BANFFY CASTLE

SCHLOSS BANFFY



Tobias Muller

Country of production: Romania, Germany
Year: 2004
Mins: 43

Production company: Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg
Producer: Hanneke M. Van der Tas
Cinematography: Beate Scherer
Editing: Katharina Kulinsky
Sound: Immo Trumpelmann

Source: Lago Film GmbH
c/o Hanneke M. Van der Tas
August-Bebel-Str. 26-53
14482 Potsdam, Germany
Tel: +49 331 72345 00
Fax: +49 331 72345 02


His curiosity awakened by troubled letters from a friend working at Bánffy Castle, a psychiatric clinic in rural Romania, director Tobias Müller sets out to explore life at the Castle for himself, hoping to find at least some happiness, smiling faces, minor triumphs and, most of all, people who are able to value life’s little pleasures. He meets the inhabitants of Bánffy Castle, its “princes” and “princesses:” Enneke, the young woman with a sparkle in her eye, Günther, a broken-legged footballer with theories about populated planets, and lovely Rosi, with her red hat and dislike of pills. He discovers lives that, in some ways, mirror his own, with everyday routine punctuated by petty squabbles, laughter, illness, friendship, loss, even the occasional party. But the effects of poverty and mental illness remain devastating; nothing can explain the perpetual cycle of misery, madness and death. Can it be the curse of former owner Baroness Bánffy?

Tobias M üller was born in 1979 in Sigmaringen, Germany. He is studying documentary filmmaking at the Film Academy Baden-Württenberg and has been working as a cameraman and director on the DasDing television show for young people produced by SWR in Baden-Baden.

FILMOGRAPHY

BANFFY CASTLE (2004)
SOPIRO (2004)
NARROW HORIZONS (2003)

TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2005 AT 12.00 PM. / CHOPIN THEATRE
SCREENING WITH PHANTOM LIMB
SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 2005 AT 5.00 PM. / CHOPIN THEATRE
SCREENING WITH PHANTOM LIMB

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2005 AT 7.00 PM. / GALLERY THEATRE.....BUY TICKETS!
SCREENING WITH:
LESSON FROM BAM
FOR A MIRACLE