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SLEEPING SICKNESS (SCHLAFKRANKHEIT)

Scene from SLEEPING SICKNESS (photo © Komplizen Film/Patrick Orth)
Ebbo and Vera Velten have been living in Africa for a long time. Ebbo is managing a sleeping sickness program. His work is fulfilling. In contrast, Vera feels increasingly uncomfortable with her life in the expat community of Yaoundé and the separation from her daughter Helen, 14, who is attending boarding school in Germany.
Ebbo has to give up his life in Africa if he doesn’t want to lose the women he loves. But he has become a stranger to Europe. His fear of returning increases from day to day.
Years later. Alex Nzila, a young French doctor of Congolese origin, travels to Cameroon to evaluate a development project. He hasn’t been to Africa for a long time. But instead of finding new prospects, he encounters a destructive, lost man: like a phantom, Ebbo slips away from his evaluator.
Ebbo has to give up his life in Africa if he doesn’t want to lose the women he loves. But he has become a stranger to Europe. His fear of returning increases from day to day.
Years later. Alex Nzila, a young French doctor of Congolese origin, travels to Cameroon to evaluate a development project. He hasn’t been to Africa for a long time. But instead of finding new prospects, he encounters a destructive, lost man: like a phantom, Ebbo slips away from his evaluator.
Ulrich Köhler was born in 1969 in Marburg. He studied Fine Art in France, followed by studies in Philosophy and Visual Communication in Hamburg. His films include: the shorts EPOXY (1996, in co-direction with Nina Könnemann), MARIA TOKYO (1997), STARSKY (1997), PALÜ (1998, in co-direction with Jochen Dehn), and RAKETE (1999), followed by his highly-acclaimed feature debut BUNGALOW (2002), WINDOWS ON MONDAY (MONTAG KOMMEN DIE FENSTER, 2006), and SLEEPING SICKNESS (SCHLAFKRANKHEIT, 2011).
Genre Drama
Category Feature
Year of Production 2011
Director Ulrich Köhler
Screenplay Ulrich Köhler
Director of Photography Patrick Orth
Editors Katharina Wartena, Eva Könnemann
Production Design Jochen Dehn
Cast Jenny Schily, Hippolyte Girardot, Sava Lolov, Maria Elise Miller, Francis Noukiatchom, Ali Mvondo Roland, Isacar Yinkou, Jean-Christophe Folly, Pierre Bokma
Producers Janine Jackowski, Maren Ade, Katrin Schlösser
Co-Producer Frans van Gestel
Production Company Komplizen Film/Munich & Berlin, in co-production with öFilm/Berlin, Why Not Productions/Paris, IDTV Film/Amsterdam, ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel/Mainz, in cooperation with ARTE/Strasbourg
Length 91 min
Format RED, color, 1:1.85
Original Version French/German/Dutch/Bassa
Subtitled Versions English, German, French
Sound Technology Dolby Digital
Festivals Berlin 2011 (In Competition), BAFICI 2011, Istanbul 2011, CPH PIX 2011, Sydney 2011, Melbourne 2011, New York 2011, London 2011, Tokyo 2011, Busan 2011, Sao Paulo 2011, Vienna 2011 (International Competition), San Francisco 2012, Shanghai 2012
Awards Silver Bear (Best Director) Berlin 2011
With backing from German Federal Film Board, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, BKM, German Federal Film Fund, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, The Netherlands Film Fund, HR-Filmfund, CNC, MEDIA
German Distributor Farbfilm Verleih/Berlin
World Sales
The Match Factory GmbH
Michael Weber
Balthasarstr. 79-81
50670 Cologne/Germany
phone +49-2 21-5 39 70 90
fax +49-2 21-5 39 70 910
info@matchfactory.de
http://www.the-match-factory.com
Category Feature
Year of Production 2011
Director Ulrich Köhler
Screenplay Ulrich Köhler
Director of Photography Patrick Orth
Editors Katharina Wartena, Eva Könnemann
Production Design Jochen Dehn
Cast Jenny Schily, Hippolyte Girardot, Sava Lolov, Maria Elise Miller, Francis Noukiatchom, Ali Mvondo Roland, Isacar Yinkou, Jean-Christophe Folly, Pierre Bokma
Producers Janine Jackowski, Maren Ade, Katrin Schlösser
Co-Producer Frans van Gestel
Production Company Komplizen Film/Munich & Berlin, in co-production with öFilm/Berlin, Why Not Productions/Paris, IDTV Film/Amsterdam, ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel/Mainz, in cooperation with ARTE/Strasbourg
Length 91 min
Format RED, color, 1:1.85
Original Version French/German/Dutch/Bassa
Subtitled Versions English, German, French
Sound Technology Dolby Digital
Festivals Berlin 2011 (In Competition), BAFICI 2011, Istanbul 2011, CPH PIX 2011, Sydney 2011, Melbourne 2011, New York 2011, London 2011, Tokyo 2011, Busan 2011, Sao Paulo 2011, Vienna 2011 (International Competition), San Francisco 2012, Shanghai 2012
Awards Silver Bear (Best Director) Berlin 2011
With backing from German Federal Film Board, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, BKM, German Federal Film Fund, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, The Netherlands Film Fund, HR-Filmfund, CNC, MEDIA
German Distributor Farbfilm Verleih/Berlin
World Sales
The Match Factory GmbH
Michael Weber
Balthasarstr. 79-81
50670 Cologne/Germany
phone +49-2 21-5 39 70 90
fax +49-2 21-5 39 70 910
info@matchfactory.de
http://www.the-match-factory.com


