A film by Maren Ade. "The Forest For The Trees" celebrated its world premiere at the Hofer Filmtagen and was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Competition.
Bursting with idealism, Melanie Pröschle (Eva Löbau), a young teacher from Swabia, idealistically starts her first job at a middle school in the city of Karlsruhe. She wants to bring a wind of change to school. But the older and experienced members of the teaching staff are irritated by Melanie's educational methods. The students quickly discover her weak points. A boy throws cocoa at her. It isn't easy to start a new life. It isn't easy to start a new life. Loneliness makes its presence felt. Obviously nobody was waiting for her in Karlsruhe.
But Melanie is not discouraged and establishes contact with her neighbour Tina (Daniela Holtz), whose boyfriend recently broke up with her. So any distraction is a welcome relief to Tina. But it soon becomes evident that Tina has enough friends. The more Tina withdraws from Melanie, the more Melanie intensifies her efforts to develop a friendship. With every attempt she makes to get closer to Tina, she oversteps another line, becoming increasingly entangled in lies, false hopes and self-abasement.
Komplizen Film in co-production with SWR TV, Kaufmannwöbke GGR and The Film Academy Munich.
Melanie Pröschle
Eva Löbau
Tina Schaffner
Daniela Holtz
Thorsten Rehm
Jan Neumann
Bine
Nina Fiedler
Frau Sussmann
Ilona C. Schulz
Tobias
Robert Schupp
Lutger Reinhardt
Heinz-Röser Dümming
Renate Pföhler
Martina Eckrich
Gerd Postweiler
Hans Rüdiger Kucich
Elvira Fischer-Walter
Ruth Köppler
Bernd
Achim Enchelmaier
Mutter Melanie
Monika Hirschle
Vater Melanie
Volker Jeck
Written and directed by
Maren Ade
Director of Photography
Nikolai von Graevenitz
Editing
Heike Parplies
Art Director
Eric Segol
Production Design
Claudia Schölzel
Costume Design
Gitti Fuchs
Christian Garcia
Original Sound
Jörg Kidrowski
Original Music
Ina Siefert
Nellis du Biel
Commissioning Editors
Sabine Holtgreve (SWR)
Producers
Janine Jackowski, Maren Ade (Komplizen Film)
Internationale Hofer Filmtage 2003
Max-Ophüls-Preis Saarbrücken 2004
Cologne Conference 2004
New Talent Films
Tromsø International Film Festival 2004
Toronto International Film Festival 2004
Discovery
Vancouver Film Festival 2004
Valladolid International Film Festival
Cairo International Film Festival 2004
International Student Film Festival Munich 2004
Opening Film
Kinofest Lünen 2004
Sundance Film Festival 2005
World Dramatic Competition
Göteborg International Film Festival 2005
Hong Kong International Film Festival 2005
International Film Festival of Uruguay 2005
Women's Film Festival in Seoul 2005
Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival 2005
Competition
San Francisco Film Festival 2005
Independent Film Festival Lisboa 2005
Competition
Newport International Film Festival 2005
Emerging Filmmakers
Sydney International Film Festival 2005
Competition
Jerusalem International Film Festival 2005
Los Angeles IFP 2005
20th Cinema Jove International 2005
Competition
Munich Film Festival 2005
Cambridge Film Festival 2005
Competition
Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival 2005
Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival 2005
Northern Lights Film Festival 2005
Soluthurner Filmtage 2006