Original Title: Vielen DANK FÜR Nichts
Synopsis
Valentin is fed up! Being confined to a wheelchair after a snowboarding accident is bad enough, but being forced to participate in a theatre project for people with disabilities is… unthinkable! There is only one ray of hope – Mira – his beautiful carer. But there’s a problem: she’s going steady with a local slime-ball called Marc. Out of frustration about himself and the world, Valentin decides to rob the gas station where Marc works. His house mates, Lukas and Titus, are all for it and offer their help. It is the beginning of a man-to-man friendship and an adventurous plan that may or may not be successful.
Technical Information
2013; Switzerland, Germany; Coming of age, Drama; 95 minutes; DCP, HDCAM-SR; 1:2.35; 5.1 mix; Original Language: German, Italian; Subtitles: English, French, German, Italian
DIRECTOR
Stefan Hillebrand, Oliver Paulus
WRITER
Stefan Hillebrand, Oliver Paulus
D.O.P.
Pierre Mennel
EDITOR
Anna R. Fernandes, Nela Märkl, Torsten Truscheit
MUSIC
Marcel Vaid
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Gregory Catella
PRODUCTION COMPANY
Motorfilm, Frischfilm
PRODUCER
Oliver Paulus, Stefan Hillebrand
SONGS
Rodrigo Gonzáles
Valentin
Joel Basman
Lukas
Nikki Rappl
Titus
Bastian Wurbs
Mira
Anna Unterberger
Katja
Isolde Fischer
Antonio
Antonio Vigano
Valentin’s mother
Anikó Donáth
STEFAN HILLEBRAND
Stefan Hillebrand was born in 1969 in Verl (Germany). He studied educational science, criminology and youth psychiatry in Heidelberg, before studying directing and screenwriting at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg. Stefan is a member of the improvisation theatre “DRAMA LIGHT” and he attended acting classes with several teachers, a.o. Keith Johnstone, Randy Dixon, Doug Nounn, Brain Lohmann and Tracy Burns.
SO LONG, MY HEART! and WHEN THE RIGHT ONE COMES ALONG got invited to more than 80 festivals and honoured with 18 international awards.
Selective Filmography
Feature Film
2010 UNGEKÜSST ZURÜCK
2008 TANDOORI LOVE
2006 SO LONG, MY HEART!
2003 WHEN THE RIGHT ONE COMES ALONG
Feature Documentary
2008 LOST IN THE MOMENT
2007 WAS DIE WELT NICHT SIEHT ZURÜCK
Short
2001 THE BUTCHER’S BRIDE
2015
CINE EUROPE 18
Sep 01 – 30
EURO-AFRICAN KAMPALA FILM FESTIVAL
Jun 16 – 28
Mar 12 – 15 (in competition)
REELABILITIES NY – DISABILITIES FILM FESTIVAL
Mar 12 – 18
Jan 18 – 19
2014
Nov 21 – 27
Moscow –
BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS – DISABILITY FF MOSCOW
Best Feature Film
Nov 17
BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS – DISABILITY FF MOSCOW
Nov 14 – 17 (in competition)
Nov 04 – 07
TRANSILVANIA INT. FILM FESTIVAL
May 29 – Jun 07
Schweizer Illustrierte
“The directors managed to create this light tragicomedy and given the fact that they are dealing with a serious topic, it has been a challenge.”
2014-06-26
Neue Züricher Zeitung
“Blues Brothers on wheels.”
2014-06-26
Basler Zeitung – Kultur.Woche
“The actors are saving the film from becoming a ‘pal-film’. But on the first place, the film just makes you laugh.”
2014-07-03
Die Welt
“[…] This film is not just staged precisely, it also uses the possibilities to show wheelchairs and their drivers in a humoristic way. The directors manage to create funny pictures and dialogues. Joel Basman is very convincing as Valentin, which surprises even insiders. ”
2014-06-05
Berliner Zeitung
“With this “phat” comedy, Hillebrand and Paulus want to dismantle borders between disabled people and the ‘average folk’. They also show courage to engage seriously disabled as protagonists.”
2014-06-05
Berliner Morgenpost
“A great and truthful film which shows that inclusion is not just a buzz or an UN-convention. Humor is the key to open this bulky door.”
2014-06-05
Mannheimer Morgen
“[…] Keep Rollin’ is a feel-good film that encourages the audience. Through its young characters one can say that it is a teenage film. The film deprives from any categorization and not only broaches the issue of inclusion but also carries it out through the great cast. […] Hillebrand and Paulus manage to turn this special case into a universal story. Never let anything get you down and it always helps to change the perspecitve. The film shows that in an exciting and entertaining way, but never forgets the abjection of life.”
2014-06-05
Kulturspiegel
“The film is an enthralling drama for the young audience with a romantic touch that overshoots the mark with a playfully staged attack on a gas station.”
2014-06-04
Klenkes
“[…] the film convinces as a pleading for a better co-operation without pity, where the commonalities of people with and without disabilities come first.”
2014-06-05
EPD Film
“[…] as little assholes on wheels, Valentin and his friends become acting subjects. […] the story develops to a Paralympic crime thriller with not so political correct moments. […] Integration is never painless and does not lead to a harmonic together: this is the message of Paulu’s and Hillebrand’s film about disabled people that also shows Hamlet’s “To Be or Not to Be” from a different perspective.”
2014-06-04
Aargauer Zeitung
“Touching, politically incorrect and funny.”
2014-01-24
Art-TV – Kulturfernsehen im Netz
“… the film is terrific: funny, tender and has lots of drive.”
2014-01-25
Die Wochenzeitung
“In this light and entertaining comedy the story is set around Valentin (birriant: Joel Basman) who is wheelchair-bound since his snowboard accident.”
2014-01-23
Neue Züricher Zeitung / NZZ Online
“Nikki Rappl and Bastian Wurbs, who are both wheelchair-bound, were celebrated by the audience together with actor Joel Basman, who is playing a handicapped person.”
2014-01-27
Dresdner
“Since the great film “Something About Paris “in 2002, there was no German film dealing with disabled people in a more relaxed way, than ‘Keep Rollin’. […] The directors are using the society’s uncertainty towards disabled people.”
2014-06-05
Sennhauserblog
“Keep Rollin’ is a funny film and the best proof that comedy can open up genre restrictions through listening, watching and working together.”
2014-01-26
Oliver Paulus was born in 1969 in Dornach (Switzerland). He first attended the School of Fine Arts in Basel before he studied directing and screenwriting at the famous Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Germany. In 1995 Oliver was honoured with the MAX OPHULS AWARD, in 1997 with the STUDY AWARD and in 2008 with the AWARD FOR FILMMAKING of the Solothurn Government. In 2005 he got invited to direct the prestigious PARISIENNE PEOPLE commercial in the succession of such outstanding directors as Jean-Luc Godard, Robert Altmann, Ethan und Joel Coen, David Lynch, Emir Kusturica, Roman Polanski and Wim Wenders.
WIR WERDEN UNS WIEDERSEH’N and WENN DER RICHTIGE KOMMT got invited to more than 80 festivals and honoured with 18 international awards.
Selective Filmography
Feature Film
2008 TANDOORI LOVE
2004 SO LONG, MY HEART!
2003 WHEN THE RIGHT ONE COMES ALONG
Short
2001 THE BUTCHER’S BRIDE
Joel Basman was born on January 23, 1990 in Zürich, Switzerland. He is an actor, known for Wer ist Hanna? (2011), Picco (2010) and Sennentuntschi (2010). In 2008 he was named as one of the European films’ Shooting Stars by the European Film Promotion Board.
Selective Filmography
Feature Film
2014 Dawn
2014 Puppylove
2014 Monuments Men – Ungewöhnliche Helden
2013 Draussen ist Sommer
2011 Hanna
TV Series
2008 Tatort
