Regie, Drehbuch: Hannes Stöhr - Kamera: Andreas
Doub - Schnitt: Anne Fabini - Musik: Paul Kalkbrenner, Sascha Funke,
Johann Sebastian Bach - Darsteller: Paul Kalkbrenner, Rita Lengyel,
Corinna Harfouch, Araba Walton, Udo Kroschwald, Henriette Müller,
RP Kahl, Dirk Borchardt, Peter Schneider, Mehdi Nebbou u.a. - D 2007
- 109 min. - DFm. engl. UT
Der Berliner Elektronik Live-DJ und Komponist
Martin Karow, genannt Ickarus (Paul Kalkbrenner) tourt mit seiner
Managerin und Freundin Mathilde (Rita Lengyel) durch die Tanzclubs
der Welt. Sie stehen kurz vor ihrer größten Albumveröffentlichung.
Als Ickarus nach einem Auftritt im Drogenrausch in eine Berliner
Nervenklinik eingeliefert wird, kommen alle Pläne durcheinander.
Er kämpft um seine Liebe, um sein Album und mit dem Tod
...
Nach "Berlin is in Germany" (Berlinale 2001, Panorama
Publikumspreis) und "One Day in Europe" (Berlinale
2005, Offizieller Wettbewerb) gelang Hannes Stöhr erneut
ein Kinofilm, der die Stimmung einer Generation sensibel und
präzise einfängt. Mit dem international erfolgreichen
DJ Paul Kalkbrenner in der Hauptrolle, den Stöhr für
das Kino entdeckt, nimmt er die Zuschauer mit auf seinen Musiktrip
- mit allen Höhen und Tiefen.
---
Berlin electronic music composer Martin (Paul Kalkbrenner),
known as DJ Ickarus, is touring with his manager and girlfriend
Mathilde (Rita Lengyel) from club to club around the globe and
is about to release their biggest album to date. However, all
of his plans are thrown out of kilter after Ickarus is submitted
to the emergency ward of a psychiatric clinic high on drugs
after a gig. A tragicomedy in Berlin of today.
From the director of 'One Day in Europe' (Berlinale 2005 in
Official Competition) and 'Berlin is in Germany' (Berlinale
2001 Panorama Audience Award) Hannes Stöhr.
Director's Note
"Usually films of musicians are about Americans or the
British who are dead. It doesn´t matter if it is Jim Morrison,
Charlie Parker, Joe Strummer, Kurt Cobain , Brian Jones, Ian
Curtis or Johnny Cash, the struggle of survival of the musician
is always set in the context of the time he has been living
in. Consequently these movies become a portrait of society,
a picture of manners, a social study and an impression of a
time. The mostly self-destructive fight of the artist becomes
a metaphor for a generation. In case of Rock´n Roll heroes
society´s atmosphere of departure is emphasized. "Art
and insanity" are the main subjects in all these portraits
of artists for me. The spectator is tied up in the passionate
, unconventional lifestyle of the main character. Will the artist
stand or fall- or fly too close to the sun? Indeed Led Zeppelin
used the legend of Ikarus as a Logo.
Why not draw a portrait of a German musician? May be even about
an artist who is still alive? Why move into the past if reality
is exciting enough? Why not make a movie about a composer of
electronic music? The musicians of the YouTube generation compose
on their Laptops. They fly around the world, they don´t
need any texts and sell their tracks as downloads. Therefore
they are independent of major record companies. In the best
of intentions they are service providers for the enthusiastic
dancers of a globalised club landscape. BERLIN CALLING is no
biopic. The film draws a ficticious portrait of a musician in
today's Berlin. It is about art and insanity, inebriation and
ecstasy, hope and future , friendship and family , music and
the joy to live and of course about love."
(Hannes Stöhr)
