Titel Kino 2/2001(2 Alternativ) - German Films

Milch und Honig aus Rotfront
MILK AND HONEY FROM ROTFRONT
The idea for Milk and Honey from Rotfront
was born in May 1995 when a group of
German filmmakers traveled through the
central Asian republics of Kirghizia and
Kazakhstan to present German film
productions. An eight-hour flight away from
Germany at the foot of the Himalayas, they
discovered a village with the official name of
Rotfront, a left-over from the Stalin period.
The pronunciation is German – both in
Kirghiz and Russian. The people living there
speak an archaic German. But that is not the
only reason why the visitor gets the impression
of traveling back to the beginning of the
20th century. It’s also the skills and methods
applied to the tasks of everyday life. Half of
the inhabitants are of German origin, their
ancestors having been Mennonites, a German
religious minority. While capturing moments
of people’s lives, the image arises of a different
German culture: the keeping of traditions and
adapting to a new culture simultaneously.
Genre Family, History Category Documentary
Cinema Year of Production 2000 Director
Hans-Erich Viet Screenplay Hans-Erich Viet
Director of Photography Thomas Keller
Editor Anne Fabini Producer Herbert Schwering
Production Company Schwering & Viet
Filmproduktion, Cologne, in co-production with
ZDF, Mainz Principal Cast Abraham Falk, Rudolf
Koop, Andrej Wiebe Length 116 min, 3276 m
Format 35 mm, b&w, 1:1.66 Original Version
German/Russian/Kirghiz Subtitled Version
English Sound Technology Dolby SR International
Festival Screenings Berlin 2001
(Forum), International Documentary Film Festival
Munich 2001 With backing from Filmbüro NW,
Kulturelle Filmförderung Niedersachsen
World Sales: please contact
Schwering & Viet Filmproduktion · Herbert Schwering
Alter Markt 36-42 · D-50667 Cologne
phone +49-2 21-32 20 53 · fax +49-2 21-32 20 54
email: iconfilm@t-online.de
Scene from ”Milk and Honey from Rotfront“ (photo © Schwering + Viet Filmproduktion)
Hans-Erich Viet was born in 1953 in East Friesland.
He studied Philosophy, Politics and Sociology of Art in
Berlin and Belfast, graduating as a political scientist. He is
also a graduate of the German Film & Television
Academy (dffb) in Berlin and received a scholarship for
the Berlin Scriptwriting Workshop. He has worked in
various capacities including in a chemistry lab in East
Friesland, as a social worker in England and Northern
Ireland, and as a forest worker. His films include:
Karniggels (1991) – co-directed with Detlev Buck,
Schnaps im Wasserkessel (documentary, 1991),
Frankie, Jonny und die anderen (1993), Luggi
L. ist nicht zu fassen (documentary, 1995), Die
rote Hand von Ulster (documentary, 1996/97),
Geiselfahrt ins Paradies (1997), Schlange auf
dem Altar (1998) as well as several episodes of the
TV series Polizeiruf 110 (1999-2000).
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