The Playmaker has secured international sales rights for “Red Stars Upon the Field,” the feature debut from writer-director Laura Laabs. The film will have its international premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam following its world premiere at the Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis in Germany. The Playmaker will launch international sales at next month’s European Film Market in Berlin.
The film centers on the discovery of a skeleton buried in a moor in rural East Germany, sparking curiosity among the locals. Who could it be? A soldier who deserted in 1944 from the Wehrmacht? A desperate farmer from one of East Germany’s agricultural cooperatives shortly before the capitalist takeover? Or perhaps the shadowy third man from a notorious secret service mission against the left-wing terrorist Red Army Faction? As the historical mystery unfolds, a century of Germany’s past resurfaces.
Moritz Hemminger, head of sales and acquisitions at The Playmaker, said: “’Red Stars Over the Field’ sparkles with creativity. The film combines important chapters of German history with a thrilling whodunnit story.”
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Balthasar Busmann and Maxi Haslberger, who produce the film for Amerikafilm, said that “Red Stars Over the Field” is “powerful cinema” with impressive visuals as well as a strong narrative. “Grasping the political spectrum of our days, the film couldn’t be released at a better time around the elections in Germany,” they said.
The film was co-produced by ZDF/Arte, WDR and SR. The production was supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media (BKM), German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), German Federal Film Board (FFA), Filmförderung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, and Kuratorium junger deutscher Film.
The local theatrical distributor is Farbfilm Verleih.
Laabs’ first documentary film “Spinach & Sugar” portrayed her Jewish grandmother Sibylle Gerstner, who was a painter, writer and founder of the East German fashion magazine “Sibylle.” It received the award for the most innovative short film at Visions du Réel in Nyon, Switzerland.
Laabs’ second film “Volksbühne” received the emerging talent award at the Biennale of the Moving Image in Frankfurt.
Her graduation film “Melusine” was funded by Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg and aired on television.
Laabs directed the TV film “Country Girls,” in cooperation with Hessischer Rundfunk, and the TV series “Spotlight,” produced by UFA.