Hiccup
GER 1989, 92 min
From ugly duckling to swan. Roland Klick does not stick to clichés, but in recourse to the fairy tale once again formulates a declaration of love to the cinema!
Synopsis
“The first steps in a new world are always difficult. There she stands, with her aluminium suitcase in which she has stored her winter clothes, in the gloomy hallway of an old building in Berlin and doesn't really know whether to trust her own courage - Gertie from Jübek (‘not Lübeck’)”. She has followed supermodel Chantal from her small village to Berlin, where she settles down in the model’s flat, which, in its scenery, turns the deceptive aspect of her fragile star existence to the outside – and thus, in a sense, brings it out in the things themselves. Chantal’s facade – everything is surface – begins to crumble, while Gertie reinvents herself. “It is this ability to transform that makes her not only the center of the film, but also its medium and perspective. The soul (of cinema), before which everything real is ‘sacred’ and everything is ‘real’ that cinema can do.” (Ulrich von Berg)
Additional Texts
On 26 June 1991, the Commission of the German Federal Film Board (FFA) found that Roland Klick’s film SCHLUCKAUF, which had been subsidised with DM 270,000, was “so far below the required level” that it could not be accepted and that the loan that had once been granted had to be repaid. As the reason for this decision, the ten-member committee stated “that the film is not suitable for contributing to improving the quality of German film”. In the history of film funding in Germany, there has never been such a demand for the return of the funding amount. It was not only for this reason that the objections raised by the Federal Film Board were explosive in terms of film policy.
In 1992 Der Spiegel asks about the precedent in detail “Dilemma of the German Federal Film Board: Can it reclaim production subsidies if it does not like the final product?” See the article “Schrott oder kein Schrott” in full length here. In the end, the FFA accepted the film after all and refrained from the demands.
Credits
Director and Editor
Roland Klick
Screenplay
Roland Klick, Irene Findeisen
With
Irene Findeisen, Cathy Haase, Peter Hugo Daly, Tana Schanzara, Rüdiger Tuchel, Jean Boileau
Director of Photography
Henning Zick
Assistant Camera
Michael Tötter, Till Sündermann
2nd Camera
Lars Barthel
Music
Peter Jahn
Singing
Simone Reifegerste
Additional Music
Peter Viehweger
Production Director
Sasa Behrendt
Props
Hans-Detlef Feger, Irene Höfer
Make-up Artist
Alfredo Rossignolo, Detlef Pleschke
Costume
Hannah Sibilski
Sound
Tom Neubauer
Set Manager
Heinz-Werner Schneider
Assistant Director
Monika Kölling, Matthias Kunkel
Production Manager
Elke Peters
Coordination
Thomas Dierks
Line Producer
Renée Gundelach
Producer
Klaus Volkenborn, Roland Klick
Produced by
Journal Film, Roland Klick Filmproduktion
In Coorporation with
Laura-Film, Helke Sander Filmproduktion, Alexandra von Grote, Alma-Film, Martin Gressmann
German Premiere
02.02.1992, Festival Max-Ophüls-Preis
Distribution Details
On request