82nd Academy Awards
Nominations Announcement: February 2, 2010, 5:30am PT
Docs! (Oscar Week Event): March 3, 2010, 7:30pm PT
Awards Ceremony: March 7, 2010, 5pm PT
RABBIT A LA BERLIN (MAUERHASE)
Germany / Poland 2009, 40 min
Director: Bartek Konopka
Producer: Anna Wydra
Co-producer: Heino Deckert
Cinematographer: Piotr Rosolowski
Editor: Mateusz Romaszkan
Sound: Franciszek Kozlowski, Florian Marquardt
Composer: Maciej Cieslak
It's an important lesson of history that a system of order intended to produce one result will often give birth to something entirely unexpected. So it was with the Berlin Wall, which was, in fact, two separate walls, one on the east and one on the west with a 120-kilometre strip of land between them. The enclosed patch was unintentionally converted into a kind of rabbit reserve as the walls encircled the lush green meadows of Potsdamer Platz and cut its rabbit population off from both escape and predators. But then one day the walls came down and the rabbits were suddenly freed from a restrictive system, albeit one to which they had become accustomed. Told in the style of a nature documentary, with a captivatingly dreamy tone and a tongue-in-cheek nod to the story's allegorical significance, Rabbit à la Berlin provides a fascinating history lesson told through the eyes of animals.
Official Website: www.rabbitalaberlin.com
To download the press kit (.doc), please click here.
The film was developed at the 2005 Ex Oriente Film and pitched at the 2005 East European Forum. In 2008, it was presented at Docu Talents from the East.
In 2009, Rabbit a la Berlin was also included in East Silver and East Silver Caravan. Rabbit a la Berlin received the Silver Eye Award (organized by the East Silver Market) for Best Mid-length Documentary and a financial prize of 1,500 EUR at the 2009 Jihlava IDFF.
Rabbit a la Berlin has so far received a number of other prestigious international trophies, among them:
- Hot Docs 2009, Toronto, Canada: Award for Best Mid-Length Doc
- Planete Doc Review 2009, Warsaw, Poland: Magic Hour Award for Best Mid-Length Film
- Krakow IFF 2009, Poland: Golden Hobby-Horse in National Competition / Bronislaw Chromy Sculpture for Best Producer of Polish Short and Documentary Films
- Hamptons IFF 2009, USA; Golden Starfish Award for Best Film of Conflict & Resolution
- Polish FF Chicago 2009, USA: Golden Teeth Award
Remarkably, Rabbit a la Berlin is the only European nominee in the Documentary Short Subject category. Also in the running are:
China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
USA 2009
Jon Alpert / Matthew O'Neill
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
USA 2009
Daniel Junge / Henry Ansbacher
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
USA 2009
Steven Bognar / Julia Reichert
Music by Prudence
USA/Zimbabwe 2009
Roger Ross Williams / Elinor Burkett
Docs! The 2009 Documentary Short Subject and Documentary Feature Nominees
March 3, 2010 / 7:30 pm PST
The Academy celebrates the work of the nominated filmmakers in the Documentary Short Subject and Feature categories with the first annual “Docs!” night. The program will include film clips from each of the nominated documentaries in both categories, and a panel discussion with each group of nominees.
Related links:
Official Website
Press Kit
Support Rabbit on Facebook
Related articles:
KEYWORD: RABBIT (An Interview with Bartek Konopka, Piotr Rosolowski and Anna Wydra)