Film Archive

madonnas (madonnen)

Rita flees to Belgium with her baby because she is wanted for theft and other offenses in Germany. She sets out in search of her natural father whom she has never met. But he has a wife and children. Rita's sudden appearance causes complications in the family. She is eventually arrested by the Belgian police and deported to Germany where she serves a lengthy prison sentence.

During this time, Rita's four other children live with Rita's mother Isabella. She runs a restaurant and has little time for the children. Fanny, the eldest, has to look after her siblings.

After Rita is released from prison, she takes her children back again – against the wishes of her mother Isabella. With the help of Marc – an American soldier stationed in Germany – an almost normal family life develops. But Rita doesn't trust Marc's feelings. They don't fit into the pattern of her previous experiences. Rita resumes her former lifestyle. She sees other men and pilfers with a girlfriend. When Marc announces he is to be posted back in the USA, Rita's life is thrown off balance.

The film gradually unveils a portrait of a woman who claims her mother was never a mother to her. But then she herself has one child after the next which she foists on her mother, forcing her to take on the role she denied Rita.

Maria Speth studied at the "Konrad Wolf" Academy of Film and Television in Babelsberg. She has worked since 1991 as an editing and directing assistant on various films and TV programs. Her films as a writer/director include: Mittwoch (short, 1995), Barfuss (short, 1999) winner of the 3sat Award at Oberhausen 1999, her feature debut the days between (in den tag hinein (2001) winner of the VPRO Tiger Award at Rotterdam, the Grand Prix du Jury at Créteil and the MFG Star 2001, and madonnas (madonnen, 2007).
 

Genre Drama
Category Feature Film Cinema
Year of Production 2007
Director Maria Speth
Screenplay Maria Speth
Director of Photography Reinhold Vorschneider
Editors Dietmar Kraus, Ludo Troch, Maria Speth
Production Design Tim Pannen, Igor Gabriel, Marion Foradori
Producers Christoph Friedel, Claudia Steffen, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Pascal Traechslin
Production Company Pandora Film Produktion/Cologne, in co-production with ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel/Mainz, Les Films du Fleuve/Liége, Cineworx/Basel
Principal Cast Sandra Hueller, Luisa Sappelt, Coleman Orlando Swinton, Susanne Lothar, Gerti Drassl, Oliver Gourmet
Casting Nina Haun, Patrick Hella
Length 125 min, 3,474 m
Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85
Original Version German/French/English
Subtitled Versions English
Sound Technology Dolby Digital
Festival Screenings Berlin 2007 (Forum), Mar del Plata 2007 (In Competition), Créteil 2007 (In Competition), BAFICI Buenos Aires 2007, Karlovy Vary 2007, Vancouver 2007, Sevilla 2007, Goeteborg 2008, MedFilm Festival 2008
Awards Best Actress (Sandra Huelller) Mar del Plata 2007
With backing from German Federal Film Board (FFA), BKM, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Filmstiftung NRW, Hessen-Invest, Eurimages, Centre du Cinema et de L'audiovisuel de la Wallonie, Hessische Ministerium fuer Wissenschaft und Kunst, Hessische Filmfoerderung, MEDIA

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