In the mid 19th century, hundreds of thousands of Europeans emigrated to faraway South America. It was a desperate bid to escape the famine, poverty and despotism that ruled at home. Their motto was: “Any fate is better than death”. Edgar Reitz’ new film DIE ANDERE HEIMAT is a domestic drama and love story set against the backdrop of this forgotten tragedy. It centres around two brothers who realise that only their dreams can save them.
The younger of them, Jakob, reads every book he can lay his hands on. He dreams about leaving his village, Schabbach, for adventures on an unknown continent and the freedom of the wild South American jungle. He studies the languages of the native South Americans and records his heroic attempts to escape the rural confines of the Hunsrück in an astonishing diary that not only tells us his story but reflects the aspirations and philosophies of a whole era. Everyone who encounters Jakob is drawn into the maelstrom of his dreams: his parents, bowed by the unremitting toil involved in making a living from the soil; his belligerent brother Gustav; and above all Henriette (Jettchen), the comely daughter of a gem cutter fallen on hard times.
Gustav’s return from military service is destined to shatter Jakob’s world and his love for Henriette.

Direction: Edgar Reitz

Script: Edgar Reitz, Gert Heidenreich

Production: Christian Reitz, Christian Reitz

Cinematography: Gernot Roll

Editing: Uwe Klimmeck

Production Design: Toni Gerg, Hucky Hornberger

Costume Design: Esther Amuser

Sound: Marc Parisotto, Philippe Welsh

Original Score: Michael Riessler

Cast: Jan Schneider, Marita Breuer, Antonia Bill

Original Title: DIE ANDERE HEIMAT - CHRONIK EINER SEHNSUCHT

Original Language: German

Subtitles: English

Film Production Countries: Germany, France

Website: http://www.die-andere-heimat.de/

Statement of the Director/s
It took almost four years to make this film. The period that separates us from the events in the story is a mere 160 years, but for myself, the film crew and the actors it was a journey to a very different and almost entirely forgotten Germany, a country disfigured by crippling poverty. Now we have completed the film, I feel the immense boon of living at a time when liberty and enjoyment are things that everyone can legitimately claim to be theirs by right. It takes a huge effort of the imagination to realise that less than a century and a half ago people in our country were forced to eke out a living for themselves under conditions that are almost unparalleled anywhere in today’s world. For a time, working on this film upended our customary perspectives. From “Schabbach” we trained our gaze on present-day life with the eyes of an outsider and it was frightening to see how apocalyptic the consumerism, egocentricity and exaggerated pretensions of our fragmented society suddenly appeared to be. Indeed, one of the effects of DIE ANDERE HEIMAT is perhaps to prompt the audience to pause for a while and experience the very different rhythm that enabled our ancestors to survive. Deep down, it may still be the true rhythm of our hearts.

Biography of the Director/s
EDGAR REITZ, filmmaker and author. He was born in 1932 in the rural region of Hunsrück, Germany, which he left to study German literature, journalism and drama in Munich, where he still lives today. As of the 1960s, when he was a member of the well-known “Oberhausen Group” that developed the German Autorenfilm (auteur film), he made a number of widely acclaimed feature films, experimental films and documentaries. He also wrote various essays and books on the aesthetics of cinema and film theory. Today Edgar Reitz has his own film production company in Munich and is director of the film department of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts.
Among his most important films are CARDILLAC, THE TRIP TO VIENNA, ZERO HOUR
and his world-famous epic HEIMAT trilogy, which spans a whole century and with a total length of over 54 hours is one of the most elaborately crafted narrative works in cinema history.

World Sales:
ARRI Worldsales GmbH
Moritz Hemminger
Rambergstr. 35
Munich, 80799, Germany
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: +49 89 3809 1288
Website: http://www.arriworldsales.de/

Press:
ARRI Worldsales GmbH
Moritz Hemminger
Rambergstr. 5
Munich, 80799, Germany
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: 49 89 3809 1288
Website: http://www.arriworldsales.de/