- Occupation
Director - Country
Germany
Schwartz Andrei
The Pier of Apolonovka
The Pier of Apolonovka is a film about a summer on the jetty, from the first day of the holidays to the last. I call them albatrosses, these boys and girls on the quay of the Sevastopol Bay. The Sevastopol albatrosses are a symbol of the inextricable dilemma in which the city finds itself: A city too impoverished for splendor and glory, and much too alive for the scrap-heap. At some point, the young and old albatrosses took us home with them and showed us their Korabelnaja, the once famous shipyard workers' neighborhood. There socialist pathos has now yielded to dusty reverie. We soon recognized that many of the residents there were failed, reconciled or defiant albatrosses. They still have one thing in common: Sooner or later their paths meet on the quay. The harbor is the most important stage. For the children, leaps from the concrete ledge are something like first initiation rites. A little further on, the pier is a stage for their parents' after-work dreams.
Jailbirds
The Lifer's Wing and other stories. Day-to-day life in a Romanian high-security prison.
The Pier of Apolonovka is a film about a summer on the jetty, from the first day of the holidays to the last. I call them albatrosses, these boys and girls on the quay of the Sevastopol Bay. The Sevastopol albatrosses are a symbol of the inextricable dilemma in which the city finds itself: A city too impoverished for splendor and glory, and much too alive for the scrap-heap. At some point, the young and old albatrosses took us home with them and showed us their Korabelnaja, the once famous shipyard workers' neighborhood. There socialist pathos has now yielded to dusty reverie. We soon recognized that many of the residents there were failed, reconciled or defiant albatrosses. They still have one thing in common: Sooner or later their paths meet on the quay. The harbor is the most important stage. For the children, leaps from the concrete ledge are something like first initiation rites. A little further on, the pier is a stage for their parents' after-work dreams.
Jailbirds
The Lifer's Wing and other stories. Day-to-day life in a Romanian high-security prison.
ANDREI SCHWARTZ - Author and Director AS was born in Bukarest, Romania in 1955. He still has a close connection to his homecountry, but has been living in Germany for 38 years. He studied at the School of Arts in Hamburg. He is one of the best known German-Romanina filmmakers - being able to understand the country and its people and still having the needed distance to make good observations. This film is only possible because AS is able to "open doors". His knowledge, connections and standing allow to make BANISHED FROM THE HEAVENS.
1995-97 "Wasteland" (WÜSTE Film in co-production with ZDF) Documentary on a group of Roma who live beside a garbage dump. Awards: - VPRO Joris Ivens Award: Int. Documentary-Festival Amsterdam 1997; Blue Ribbon for the Best International Documentary beyond 60 minutes; Hot Docs! - International Documentary-Festival Toronto 1998; ECHO Television Award 1998: European Union; 2. Prize: Documentary-Festival Milano 1998; Nominated for Adolf-Grimme-Preis 1998; German Youth-Video-Award 1999 Festival invitations: Max-Ophüls (Saarbrücken), Int. Documentary Film Festival Munich, Sydney Film Festival, Documentary in Europe (Biella, Italy), Viennale (Vienna), Vancouver Int. Film Festival, The 3rd Pusan Int. Film Festival (South-Korea), "Sehenswert" Goethe-Institut Budapest, New Documentaries- Museum of Modern Art (New York), The International Film Festival Brussels, a.o.
1998-2001 "Tales from Leper Valley" (WÜSTE Film in co-production with NDR/ARTE, YLETVI / Finland, developed with MEDIA support, distribution by d.net.sales, Heino Deckert) Documentary - behind the fences of Tichilesti / Rumania, the last leprosy colony in Europe. Festival invitations: International Forum of New Cinema – Int. Film Festival Berlin 2002
2002-2003 “Sevastopol Albatross” (script) “Next Stop: Feodosjia” (script)
2003-2005 "JAILBIRDS / Geschlossene Gesellschaft" (EIKON Media in co-production with ZDF/ARTE, developed with MEDIA support, distribution by EIKON Media) The film deals with life and survival behind the walls of a Romanian prison. Festival invitations: Semaine de la Critique / International Film Festival LOCARNO 2005 48th DOK - Documentary Film Festival Leipzig 2005
2006-2008 "The Pier of Apolonovka" (EIKON Media in co-production with ZDF/ARTE, developed with MEDIA support, distribution by AUTLOOK Filmsales) A film about a summer on Sevastopol´s pier, from the first day of the holidays to the last, a place made fascinating by the encounter between parallel words. Awards: Honourable Mention of the Jury: EURODOK 2009, Oslo Festival invitations: IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2008; 51th DOK - Documentary Film Festival Leipzig 2008; YAMAGATA International Documentary Film Festival 2009; EURODOK Oslo 2009, Dokumentarfilmwoche Hamburg 2009, achtung berlin 2009, Krakow Film Festival 2009, WATCH DOCS Warsaw 2009, Transilvania International Film Festival 2010, 7th International Documentary Film Festival in Kyiv, 2010.
East Silver Caravan - 2008