Lost in Karastan Germany, United Kingdom, Russia, Georgia 2014 | 100 min | OV | Colour | FF 2014
Ben Hopkins
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 2014.
rated for 0 + years
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. Supported by
Original title: Welcome to Karastan
Film type: Fiction Feature
Original language:
Section: Free Port
topics:
Language and subtitles: OV
Director: Ben Hopkins
Screenplay: Ben Hopkins, Pawel Pawlikowski
Cast: Matthew MacFadyen, Noah Taylor, Myanna Buring, Richard van Weyden
Producer: Daniel Zuta, Vladimer Katcharava, Mike Downey, Sam Taylor, Artem Vasiliew
Director of Photography: Jörg Gruber
Music: Andreas Lukas
Production Design: Anette Reuther
Editor: Alan Levy
Sound: 0
Costume design:
Commissioning Editor:
Format: dcp
Printsource:
German Distributor: Piffl Medien GmbH
World Sales: Stealth Medien Group
Production: Brandstorm Entertainment AG; 20 Steps Production; Metra Films; F&ME
Contact: Daniel Zuta, Brandstorm Entertainment AG: mail@zutafilm.de
