&EqX - PROGRESS Film-Verleih

A modern fairy tale,
an exciting
adventure and
great
entertainment
PRODUCTION for the entire
PROVOBIS Gesellschaft für Film
family.
und Fernsehen mbH
in co-production with
TH E M Y S T E R Y O F M OR PH US - FI L M C R E W &EqX
rbb, MDR, BR, LANG FILM
with backing from
Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg,
Deutscher Filmförderfonds DFFF, 2008
LENGTH 96 min.
FORMAT 35 mm,
1:1,78/ colour
HEAD OF PRODUCTION Jürgen Haase
CO-PRODUCER Bernhard Lang
PRODUCER Thomas Teubner
DIRECTED BY Karola Hattop
SCRIPT Andrzej Maleszka
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Sebastian Richter
MUSIC Eike Hosenfeld,
Moritz Denis
SETTING Nicole Heidel
COSTUMES Ingrid Weiß
EDITOR Karola Mittelstädt
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Wolfgang Plehn
LINE PRODUCER Jutta Paarmann
CAST Jonas Hämmerle (Nicki)
Michael Roll (Nicki’s father)
Oliver Korittke (gangster Max)
Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey (gangster Kwapisch)
Charlotte Crome (Nicki’s mother)
Magali Greif (Marta)
Nadine Schori (hotel manager) and many more
THE MYSTERY OF MORPHUS – PRESS COMMENTS
“A great modern fairy tale with a lot of music” “’The Mystery of Morphus’ is a good example of showing children how to approach
classical music in a playful manner. Moreover, it broaches the issue of lacking self-confidence and how to deal with it.”
(Thomas Lassonczyk, Blickpunkt: Film)
“A captivating film about the struggle of imagination and brains against sheer greed. And about the power of friendship and music.”
(spielen und lernen)
“Cinema for the little ones was made here. The film started with the rating ‘suitable for all’ which shows that the target group was
the young audience. And at various festivals where the film was shown it turned out that it worked. Even the slightly older kids,
twelve years or older, enjoyed the film. …a mixture of mystery, crime and adventure suitable for children.”
(Dimitrios Athanassiou, moviemaze.de)
“The modern fairy tale with opulent music combines light entertainment with playfully making classical music accessible to children.”
(dpa in yahoo.de, welt.de)
WORLD SALES:
PROGRESS Film-Verleih GmbH | Immanuelkirchstraße 14 b · D-10405 Berlin · Germany
Fon: (49) 30 – 24 00 3 – 202/ -225 · Fax: (49) 30 – 24 00 3 – 222 · Mail: c.jansen@progress-film.de
www.progress-film.de
Oliver Korittke • Jonas Hämmerle • Michael Roll
Amodern fairy tale, an exciting adventure and great entertainment for the entirefamily.
A film by Karola Hattop
produced by Jürgen Haase

S T O R Y L I N E
&Eq X
What happens
when all of a sudden all people
fall asleep and you are the only one who stays awake? This is what ten-year-old Nicki
involuntarily experiences when the last composition called Morphus by the great
composer Ludwig van Beethoven accidentally ends up in his schoolbag. The melody holds
magic powers because everybody who listens to it falls asleep. Only few people know about this
secret such as the gangsters Max and Kwapisch. On a trip with his dad into the snowy mountains,
the gangsters follow Nicki and his father to steal the Morphus score. They want to use the magic
force of the music for their racketeering. For the shy boy this is the start of a turbulent adventure.
After arriving at the hotel Nicki learns about the magic powers of the melody
when he starts playing it on his trumpet. He experiences that suddenly
all people around fall asleep except for the gangster Max. Now he is
completely alone and has to face the attacks and intrigues of the
gangster. He has to fight for the Morphus score to save himself, his
dad and everybody else from the evil doings of the villain. In this
difficult situation, he makes substantial progress and changes
from an anxious child into a self-confident boy.
DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY
KAROLA HATTOP, born in 1949, studied at the German
Academy for Film and Television “Konrad Wolf” in Potsdam Babelsberg.
Afterwards she worked as director
at the main television station of the
GDR and at the DEFA Studios for Feature Films. From 1990 to
1994 she has been working as producer, director and author
at Phantasios Filmproduction. Since 1994 she works
as free-lance author and director.
Awards: ”Wer küsst schon einen Leguan?“: Golden
Sparrow Award 2005, nomination Adolf Grimme Award
2004, European Children’s Film Award and Audience
Award 2003
JONAS HÄMMERLE,
born in 1998, so far acted in a television film
called “Das Kuckuckskind” in 2007. In the film
“The Mystery of Morphus” he acts the part of the
young main character Nicki, a little music genius.
He likes playing Cello and for his role he also learned to
play the trumpet.
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B I O G R A P H I E S
MICHAEL ROLL,
born in Munich in 1961, acted in a
motion picture for the first time in 1982 in the
film “Kraftprobe” with the well-known German actress
Hannelore Hoger. Since 1983 he has been one of the busiest actors
in Germany. In addition, he started his stage career in 1987. In 1989 he won
the award as Germany’s most talented young actor for his acting in “Der Mann in Salz”.
Afterwards he played in differ ent detective television series like “Tatort”, “Derrick” and “Der Alte”.
His breakthrough came with the television series “Der König” (1994-1996) in which he played with the famous
actor Günter Strack. Since that time, he is considered a component part in the German movie business.
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OLIVER KORITTKE, born in Berlin in 1968, played at the age of 4 in the
television series “Die Pulvermänner” (1972). Afterwards he also performed in the German Sesame Street.
In 1984 he started to act in films. His breakthrough was the film “Die Musterknaben”, a detective comedy, in
1997. In the year 2000 he won the Adolf Grimme Award for his performance in the film “Dunckel” (1999).
Korittke loves music, he plays percussion and bass guitar, from time to time he accompanies a team of DJs
around Germany.
ARNDT SCHWERING-SOHNREY, born in Bad Tölz in 1968. He studied acting at the
Hannover University for Music and Drama. After finishing his studies he started
to perform onstage, for example at the State Theatre Hannover,
Grips Theatre in Berlin, Sophiensaelen in Berlin, Hebbel am Ufer
Berlin and at the Theatre Stuttgart. Since 1994 he has been
acting in films for cinema and television. He is known for his
performances in films like “The Counterfeiters“,
“Anatomie” and “Good Bye, Lenin!”.
Children’s films produced by
JÜRGEN HAASE | PROVOBIS
2008 “The Mystery of Morphus” (directed by Karola Hattop)
2008 “Sleeping Beauty“ (directed by Arend Agthe)
2007 “Rumpelstiltskin“ (directed by Andi Niessner)
2001 “Pinky and the Million-Pug“ (directed by Stefan Lukschy)
1997 “Lawrence in the Land of Liars“ (directed by Jürgen Brauer)
1984 “Gülibik“ (directed by Jürgen Haase)