The night of nights
Together. Your whole life long. Who can do that? Who wants that? What appears to us as a bizarre concept today was the norm for our grandparents’ generation. This generation still knew the meaning of a traditional wedding night.
CONTENT
An Indian couple who got married, contravening the rules of the caste system, and had to cut all ties with their families…
A Japanese couple who were subject to an arranged marriage and who struggled to love each other…
A rough-and-ready post-war couple from the Ruhr region in Germany...
And two gay men from the USA, who were only allowed to marry after they had been together for 50 years and solved the associated legal problems: one of them adopted the other. Four couples from three continents describe openly and honestly what it means to be together for 55 years or longer. Whatever brought them together, whether it was love or an arranged marriage, what they all have in common is that they have dedicated their whole life to the relationship. The good times and the bad times. Maybe not always happy, certainly not without their various struggles, but still together. And what is there in the end, when you look a whole life in the eyes?
Yasemin and Nesrin Samdereli have made a funny, touching, entertaining and profound film about love. With an astonishing openness, her protagonists talk about sex and morality, love and companionship, children, partnerships and their “Night of Nights”: the wedding night.
The award-winning animation artist Izabela Plucinska enhances this documentary material with clay animations, which bring to life her own tragicomic interpretation of these stories and the protagonists themselves.
Special thanks to our wonderful PROTAGONISTS and their patience.
In memory of ISAO SUGIHARA
11.02.1929 – 03.01.2017
PRODUCERS Anja-Karina Richter / S2R Film GmbH
Arne Birkenstock / Fruitmarket Kultur und Medien GmbH
CO-PRODUCERS Christian Becker / Rat Pack Filmproduktion
IN CO-PRODUCTION Westside Filmproduktion / Drife Filmproduktion GmbH
DIRECTOR Yasemin Samdereli
CONCEPT AND SCRIPT Yasemin & Nesrin Samdereli
DRAMATURGY Arne Birkenstock
CAMERA Marcus Winterbauer
EDITOR Mechthild Barth (BFS)
KNETANIMATION Izabela Plucinska / Claytraces
ORIGINAL SOUND Filipp Forberg
COMPOSER Dürbeck & Dohmen
SOUND DESIGN Guido Zettier
SOUND RE-RECORDING Stefan Korte
Theatrical release: 5th April, 2018
An Indian couple who got married, contravening the rules of the caste system, and had to cut all ties with their families…
A Japanese couple who were subject to an arranged marriage and who struggled to love each other…
A rough-and-ready post-war couple from the Ruhr region in Germany...
And two gay men from the USA, who were only allowed to marry after they had been together for 50 years and solved the associated legal problems: one of them adopted the other. Four couples from three continents describe openly and honestly what it means to be together for 55 years or longer. Whatever brought them together, whether it was love or an arranged marriage, what they all have in common is that they have dedicated their whole life to the relationship. The good times and the bad times. Maybe not always happy, certainly not without their various struggles, but still together. And what is there in the end, when you look a whole life in the eyes?
Yasemin and Nesrin Samdereli have made a funny, touching, entertaining and profound film about love. With an astonishing openness, her protagonists talk about sex and morality, love and companionship, children, partnerships and their “Night of Nights”: the wedding night.
The award-winning animation artist Izabela Plucinska enhances this documentary material with clay animations, which bring to life her own tragicomic interpretation of these stories and the protagonists themselves.
Special thanks to our wonderful PROTAGONISTS and their patience.
In memory of ISAO SUGIHARA
11.02.1929 – 03.01.2017
PRODUCERS Anja-Karina Richter / S2R Film GmbH
Arne Birkenstock / Fruitmarket Kultur und Medien GmbH
CO-PRODUCERS Christian Becker / Rat Pack Filmproduktion
IN CO-PRODUCTION Westside Filmproduktion / Drife Filmproduktion GmbH
DIRECTOR Yasemin Samdereli
CONCEPT AND SCRIPT Yasemin & Nesrin Samdereli
DRAMATURGY Arne Birkenstock
CAMERA Marcus Winterbauer
EDITOR Mechthild Barth (BFS)
KNETANIMATION Izabela Plucinska / Claytraces
ORIGINAL SOUND Filipp Forberg
COMPOSER Dürbeck & Dohmen
SOUND DESIGN Guido Zettier
SOUND RE-RECORDING Stefan Korte
Theatrical release: 5th April, 2018
