Articles

Flatland will open Berlinale’s Panorama

Alexia Muiños Ruiz
Alexia Muiños Ruiz

Flatland will open Panorama

Flatland

The South African film directed by Jenna Bass is a contemporary Western centering on a journey of self-discovery for three different but equally trapped women. “It paints a vivid and unique portrait of femininity against a hostile frontier land and questions what it means to be a woman today in South Africa and the world at large,” according to a statement by The Match Factory.

Jenna Bass is a South African born director whose previous film High Fantasy  premiered at the 2017 Toronto Film Festival.

“I realized that though I loved Westerns as much as my father did, I couldn’t identify with them. I knew Clint Eastwood would survive, but what about me? What would I do, shot at by enemies, alone? I wanted adventure for myself and for others who were ignored by these films. Women have just as much right to be in the saddle, and I was sure that women audiences had the same desires I had, as well as the spirit to act them out.

Producers:
David Horler Proper Film - South Africa
Désirée Nosbusch - Deal Productions - Luxembourg
Alexandra Hoesdorff  (EWA member)- Deal Productions - Luxembourg
Roshanak Behesht Nedjad - In Good Company -  Germany
Co-Producer :
Titus Kreyenberg - Unafilm - Germany
International Sales - The Match Factory

Synopsis:

The world of lonely, middle-age policewoman Beauty Cuba changes forever when she receives a call for help from Billy, the lost love of her life who has recently been re-arrested for murder. Beauty returns to her home town of Beaufort West, deep in the heart of the surreal landscape of the Karoo semi-desert and quickly learns that this case is not as simple as she thought. The real culprit of this accidental murder is a painfully shy young woman named Natalie who flees her small, rural town on horseback and teams up with her now pregnant childhood friend Poppie to outrun the law. Flatland is a journey of self-discovery for these three different but equally desperate women, painting a vivid and unique portrait of femininity against a hostile frontier-land and questions what it means to be a women in contemporary South Africa and the world at large

Alexandra Hoesdorff, Deal productions.

Over 20 years of production experience in the U.S. and in Europe, Alexandra has worked with companies such as 20th Century Fox, Constantin Film, Warner Brothers, Disney, CLT-UFA, RTL etc. Among her projects she has produced Time Share in co-production with Fox and Constantin Film starring Timothy Dalton and Nastassja Kinski; Souvenirstarring Isabelle Huppert international sales by Pathé International shown at many prestige international festivals 2016-2017 such as TIFF, BFI London and the Palm Springs Film Festival.

Alexandra has been elected the first female member of the Board of ULPA, the Union Luxembourgeoise de la Production Audiovisuelle, and President to the Board of Feature Films in 2016.