- Title: ITALY: GERMAN FILM "HUNDESTAGE" IS PREMIERED AT THE VENICE FILM FESTIVAL
- Date: 3rd September 2001
- Summary: VENICE, ITALY (SEPTEMBER 3, 2001) (REUTERS) VARIOUS SHOTS OF VENICE LIDO WITH BOATS SAILING
- Embargoed: 18th September 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: VENICE, ITALY
- Country: Italy
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAEPZS6XCHOST7RNIQGTJSZ7X27
- Story Text: "Hundestage" are the Dog Days of summer, days where the heat is sweltering and there is not a cloud in the sky. Ulrich Seidl's painstakingly realistic film, presented at the Venice Film festival examines the effect on human nature when the temperature soars.
Directed by acclaimed documentary maker, Ulrich Seidl is an interwoven tale of six stories, that of a beautiful young woman in a dysfunctional relationship, a man living in the same house as his ex-wife, a security system salesman who has to catch a vandal, a mentally disturbed woman, a couple approaching their 50th wedding anniversary and a teacher who is taken dangerous lengths when she plays sex games with her pimpish lover.
All the stories are played out in the Hundestage, or dogs days. Seidl was such a stickler for realism that he refused to shoot when the temperature was below 37 degrees or if there was a cloud in the sky.
Consequently shooting took 3 years to complete.
Seidl also found his actors by casting real people rather than actors, and for many it was their first experience of acting. Rather than scripting dialogue, he used intensive sessions of improvisation to build his script round his ideas a method that resulted in 80n hours of rushes and a two year editing period.
Maria Hofstatter is one of the few professional actors on screen, she plays Anna, a mentally handicapped woman whose disarming honesty alarms those she encounters. She, like the non professional actors underwent an intense and lengthy period of preparation for her role.
Hundestage is in competition at the Venice Film Festival which closed September 8. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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