The WWII drama is produced by Germany (MA.JA.DE.) in co-production with Latvia (Rija Films) and the Netherlands (Lemming Film), with the participation of Russia (GP Group). Principle photography begins in Latvia in September. The film with the estimated budget of € 1,7 million is expected to be premiered in spring 2012.
HEINO DECKERT of MA.JA.DE, producer of LOZNITSA’s cult documentary “Revue” (2007) and his 2010 Palm d’Or contender “My Joy”, is confident that the project will excite international buyers, as well as the film connoisseurs.
“I have been working with Sergei Loznitsa since 2003, we have made 4 documentaries and one feature film together, and I have witnessed the demand for his art grow on the international circuit. Making films with Loznitsa is like producing vintage wines – they grow in value year by year. “My Joy” has been released in a number of key world territories, including France, Germany, Russia, Brazil and the USA, and we are already inundated with enquiries about our new project”, says HEINO DECKERT.
DECKERT, who also runs DECKERT DISTRIBUTION world sales company, points out that with almost 70% German public funding, “IN THE FOG” is a German production destined for the wide international audience.
SERGEI LOZNITSA describes his new film, based on a novel by the Belorussian writer Vassily Bykov, as an existential drama “about a man trying to make a moral choice under the immoral circumstances”. The action takes place in the German occupied Belorussia in 1942. A village railway worker is wrongly accused of being a collaborator, and two partisans arrive from the forest to get revenge. As the protagonist attempts to prove his innocence, his humanity is put to the ultimate test.
LOZNITSA, whose montage documentary hit “Blockade” (2005) reveals the unseen archive chronicles of the besieged Leningrad, is passionate about Soviet history and believes that the trauma of communism should be exposed and deconstructed.
“Why do I choose to go back to history, why do I want to make a film about the Second World War? During the Soviet era artists were not free to reflect upon the events of those tragic years. So far, the post-Soviet culture has not produced works which give an unbiased representation of the life in the USSR during WWII. However, this tragedy has to be reflected upon and analyzed. I consider it my duty to look back, and – therefore – into the future,” says SERGEI LOZNITSA.
LOZNITSA continues his collaboration with the Romanian DOP Oleg Mutu (“4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days”, “The death of Mr Lasarescu”, “My joy”, “Saturday”) and the Belorussian sound designer Vladimir Golovnitsky (“Blockade”, “How I ended this summer”, “My joy”). Production designer and award-winning animator from Latvia Jurgis Krasons (“Invincible”, “Honey Baby”, “To swallow a toad”) and Polish costume designer Dorota Roqueplo (“Savior Square”, “My Nikifor”, “Life for Life”) have joined the international crew of “IN THE FOG”.
The cast of “IN THE FOG” will feature professional actors from Russia, Latvia and Germany as well as the locals from rural Latgalia on the Latvian-Belorussian border.