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| FILM
FESTIVAL 2007 |
FILM:
BIRDS EYE VIEW FILM FESTIVAL "Rife with bad mouthing, chain smoking and dull, council estate rambles, director Birgit Grosskopf explores the consequences of misplaced allegiance with the understated air of Andrea Arnold or Ken Loach." - Fiona Fletcher, BEV programmer In a dull, West German suburb a rebellious girl gang roams. It's a grey day for Yvonne and her glowering companions. Set around a bleak housing estate in the doldrums between Christmas and New Year, Yvonne is trying to ‘celebrate’ her last day before prison with booze, firecrackers and generally threatening behavior. Yvonne is the eldest and most aggressive of the gang, which also includes beautiful Russian emigre Katharina (Irina Potapenko), whose choice of friends shames her immigrant family; surly, blank-faced Jenny (Desiree Jaeger); and tag-along Mandy (Aminda Schichterich), already drinking and smoking though she can't be older than 10. Katharina, having resettled from Russia to Germany is ridiculed for her trainspotter boyfriend and vilified for her origins. There are hints of her trying to break free from Yvonne and the gang, but she lacks motivation and direction. Racial tensions and gang clashes underpin this film and it’s gritty climax will shock. In the opening scene, a young woman gets smacked in the face out of sheer resentment setting up the violent pace of this hard hitting, award winning debut from Birgit Grosskopf, tipped to be one of the hottest young directors of the German ‘new wave’. Read what BEV programmer Fiona Fletcher thinks about this film: Don't f**k with these girls! With more than an edge of the anti-social and an unsettling German realism, Prinzessin comes fist-first onto the screen staging gang loyalties, immigrant clashes and the boredom of underprivileged youth, girl-stylee. Obstinate gang elder Yvonne has a price to pay for her bad attitude - but like hell she's going to prison, Russian Katharina is teased for her romance with a ‘trainspotter' and blithe Jenny casually offers blow jobs in return for guys to quit ‘checking out' her ten year old tag-along, Mandy. Rife with bad mouthing, chain smoking and dull, council estate rambles, director Birgit Grosskopf explores the consequences of misplaced allegiance with the understated air of Andrea Arnold or Ken Loach.
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