DISTANT LIGHTS

Screenplay: Hans-Christian Schmid, Michael Gutmann
Casting: Simone Bär
Director of Photography: Bogumil Godfrejow
Editing: Hansjörg Weißbrich
Score/ music: The Notwist
Production Design: Christian M. Goldbeck
Costume Design: Ulrike Scharfschwerdt
Make-up Artist: Tatjana Krauskopf
Sound recording: Marc Parisotto

To some it's the end of the world. To others, the gateway to a new life: the river Oder between Poland and Germany. Vibrant with expectancy, it's a magnet for people from all walks of life on their journey towards happiness, security, and a better life. It's a place where Ukrainian refugees beg and bargain for entry to the "golden West" and pin all their hopes on Polish help. Where an interpreter risks her career and her freedom to help an illegal refugee, and where an architect meets his former girlfriend and discovers that they've both changed too much to find common ground for a new start. With tender realism and humanity, Distant Lights captures the lives of people seeking their footing in a world of moral ambiguity.

Maria Simon (Sonja), Janek Rieke (Christoph), Ivan Shvedoff (Kolja), Herbert Knaup (Klaus), August Diehl (Philip), Julia Krynke (Beata), Sergej Frolov (Dimitri), Anna Janowskaja (Ewa), Devid Striesow (Ingo),   Claudia Geisler (Simone), Zbigniew Zamachowski (Antoni), Aleksandra Justa (Milena), Sebastian Urzendowsky (Andreas), Alice Dwyer (Katharina), Martin Kiefer (Marko), Tom Jahn (Maik), Agnieszka Duleba – Kasza (Monika), Henry Hübchen (Wilke), Jerzy Gralek (Borowiak)

Deutscher Filmpreis in Silber „Bester Film“ 2003, Bayerischer Filmpreis 2003: Bester Film und Bestes Drehbuch, Kritikerpreis FIPRESCI im Rahmen der Filmfestspiele Berlin 2003, Drehbuchpreis beim Filmfestival in Schwerin, Preis der deutschen Filmkritik im Rahmen des Max Ophüls Festivals, Schnittpreis Hansjörg Weißbrich, Nominiert für den Deutschen Filmpreis in den Kategorien “Bester Film”, „Beste Regie”, „Beste Nebendarstellerin” und “Bester Nebendarsteller”

Filmförderungsanstalt, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Filmstiftung NRW, BKM