Synopse
Independent film-maker Emil Miller is in the middle of a creative block and on top of that his wife has left him. So the invitation to a film festival in the newly independent Caucasian republic of Karastan is perfectly timed. That the country is a model dictatorship doesn't bother the burnt-out director. He gladly accepts an offer from the president to make an epic film about a Karastanian folk hero from the Middle Ages. But shooting huge battles with several thousand extras soon starts to go wrong: first the leading actor disappears, then the president is toppled by a military junta. Welcome to Karastan is a highly amusing grotesque, whose outrageousness is occasionally reminiscent of Sasha Baron Cohen's mockumentary Borat.
Regie
Apart from working as a director, Ben Hopkins (*1969) also writes novels and screenplays. He became known for his films Simon Magnus (1999) and The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz (2000). His film Welcome zu Karastan was shown at FILMFEST HAMBURG 014.
Info
Original Title: Welcome to Karastan
International Title: Lost in Karastan
Category: Feature
Section: Wettbewerb
Version & Subtitles: English OV with German subtitles
Director: Ben Hopkins
Screenplay: Ben Hopkins, Pawel Pawlikowski
Cast/Protagonists: Matthew MacFadyen, Noah Taylor, Myanna Buring, Richard van Weyden
Production country: United Kingdom (Great Britain), Russian Federation, Georgia, Germany
Year of Production: 2014
Length: 100 min
Producer: Daniel Zuta, Vladimer Katcharava, Mike Downey, Sam Taylor, Artem Vasiliew
Production company: Brandstorm Entertainment AG, 20 Steps Production, Metra Films, F&ME
Cinematography: Jörg Gruber
Editor: Alan Levy
Music: Andreas Lukas
Production Design: Anette Reuther
World Sales: Stealth Medien Group
Distributor: Arne Höhne, PifflMedien GmbH
