SNOWDROP

SHORTFILM | 2014

SCHNEEGLÖCKCHEN (SNOWDROP) is a short film telling the story of a group of refugees trying to cross the EU border. It´s a film about hope and dreams but also about real life tragedy, as well as the pursuit of happiness and its power.

With the help of smugglers, a small group of refugees tries to cross the EU-border between the Ukraine and Slovakia. Among the refugees is a 33-year-old man called Yassir from Somalia and Seda an Armenian woman with her 12-year-old daughter Armine. She attempts to flee to Austria, where her husband, Armine’s father, is waiting for them. But the escape takes an unfortunate turn when Armine loses her talisman, a snowglobe...

OFFICIAL SELECTION
35. Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis - DE 2014
Tyrolean Independant Film Festival - AT 2014

SHOWCASED
Aarhus Independent Pixels - DK 2015

Here you can check out our film website. & Watch the trailer below.

DIRECTOR ́S STATEMENT:

SNOWDROP is a film about hope and dreams, but also about the harshness of life in modern europe. It casts a light on the number of unreported cases of people who never reached their destination in europe. The picture in my mind of the so called “Snowdrops” made such a big impact on me and was so memorable, that it became the starting point for the film. I came across it some years ago when I did research on the phenomenon of sliding borders like the ones happening in the context of the EU-Eastern expansion. Growing up in eastern Berlin with a border next to myself, I do understand the need of people to leave their country and trying to start over. Nobody flees by choice and for most refugees it´s the only hope for a life worth living.

An important aspect for me to show was that these people have to accept dependencies because it ́s their only chance. Their situation forces them to trust the smugglers and the other refugees blindly on their "journey" into the unknown. “Snowdrop” as a relatively small project still adresses a big social matter. The film wants to sensitize the viewers to the topic of fleeing and the traumas, expirience of loss and fear that are caused by it. Nobody flees by choice and for most refugees it ́s the only hope for a life worth living. UNHCR reports about 42,5 billion refugees worldwide in 2011and with the war in syria the numbers are increasing. Many of them being on the run already for several years. That ́s why we wanted to oppose a story, faces and life to these numbers that are so hard to comprehend. Because nobody is a refugee voluntarily, and most of the time it ́s the only chance to survive and start over.

CREDITS you find below.

MAKING OF PHOTOS by Daniel Auer & David Reali & Verena Schäffer

CREDITS
AT 2014 I 15min. I 4K - HD I color

Starring: DAVID WURAWA, ANNE WIEDERHOLD,
JAKLIN SARKISYAN, BRANKO SAMAROVSKI,
ZORIK MOGHDAS, KARI RAKKOLA, ALEKSANDAR PETROVIC

written & directed JENNY GAND
producer JENNY GAND
dop PHILIPP HABENICHT
edited by BENEDIKT RUBEY
sound MICHAEL JELLASITZ
music & sound design MICHAEL MITCH DÖRFLER
color grading DANIEL HOLLERWEGER
production & costume design VERENA SCHÄFFER
make up URSULA BRAUN, ANNA NEUMÜLLER,
ELENA KIRCHNER
1st. assistant director KATHARINA LIST
script/ continuity SASCHA KATO, MARIA A. GRAFF
helping hand script/continuity RONJA SCHISTEK
directing trainee MARIA ANTONIA GRAFF
production manager KATHARINA LIST,
MICHAELA ANDRÄ
location manager ANNA SAUTNER
set manager AGNES PACHUCKI, ROBERT PASSINI
production coordinator NICOLE WIRTHENSOHN
production assistants: OLIVIA LIST, BARBARA
PACHUCKI, JULIA BECK, FLORA VEST
1st. assistent camera THOMAS LOACKER,
ROBIN PERNER, THEA ADLUNG
crane operator ALOIS KOZAR
dolly grip/ lighting technicians THOMAS HAIJNIK,
LUKAS WESELY, PATRICK PACHINGER
audio mixdown MICHAEL MITCH DÖRFLER
sound edit. PIERRE KOSTINEAK, MICHAEL JELLASITZ
boom operator NORBERT BICHLER, MICHAEL HALWAX, BOTI BENEDEK

additional make up NORA CONRADI
make up trainee: NURINA DICKIE
still photography DANIEL AUER, DAVID REALI
making of camera WOLFGANG SCHÄFFER
English translation MARIA A. GRAFF, OLIVIA LIST
Armenian translation NINA SARKISYAN BRUTYAN
cooperations & sponsoring KATHARINA LIST,
NICOLE WIRTHENSOHN, MARIA A. GRAFF
trailer edited by FLORIAN FESSL
graphics CLAUDIA LECNIK
catering ANDREAS LADENGRUBER
& TANJA FUTTERKNECHT /Häuserl am Stoan

Technical equipement:
camera Red One Mysterium-X: onphilm.at
audio equipment: Ton Eichinger, Norbert Bichler
lightening & grip equipment: Ernst Dangl GmbH, Bobo.at
insurance: Aon Jauch & Hübener GmbH
car rental (props): Disastercars, E. Bernsteiner & Franz Leitner
car rental (production): KIR Group GmbH (Transporters.at)

The film is funded by:
Future Fund of the Republic of Austria
Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture

Sponsored by:
ERSTE Bank Mehrwert Sponsoring I 8cl grafikstudio I fluc I Original Wiener Schneekugelmanufaktur

Special thanks to our cooperation partners:
UNHCR I Flüchtlingsprojekt Ute Bock I Asyl in Not I Österreichisches Rotes Kreuz I Caritas I Diakonie I Care I Flüchtlingsdienst I ProjectXchange I Prosa I Concordia ILefö I Leeza I AÖF Initiative Minderheiten I Volkshilfe

Special thanks to all our supporters on startnext:
Gerhard & Ilse Dörfler I Christine Kainz I Edna Kavaldjian I Daniel Andrew Wunderer I Sanja Cancar I Michaela Jenny I Gunther Hessel I Barbara Millonig ...