Stopped on Track

  • Andreas Dresen
  • Germany
  • 2011
  • 110'
  • Halt auf freier Strecke

Forty-year-old Frank has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and suddenly faced with the fact that he only has a few months to live. It is a tremendous shock for a man whose life is right on track, with a steady job and a new house in the suburbs. Frank and his family try to go about their daily lives of work and school, but he finds it difficult to accept the inevitable – his deteriorating condition and the treatment – so he uses his iPhone as a kind of an emotional diary. The decision to nurse Frank at home is an immense burden for his wife Simone and ends up distancing the family members as much as it keeps them together.

Andreas Dresen

Born in 1963 in Gera, East-Germany. In the early 1980s, he began working in theater and making short films. He studied directing at the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf in Potsdam. Since 1992, he has been working as a writer and director for film, TV, theater, and opera. Andreas Dresen is one of Germany’s most esteemed and most successful contemporary directors, with a diverse oeuvre and many award-winning films. Night Shapes won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 1999 Berlin Film Festival and the Best New Director Award at the Valladolid Film Festival in Spain. Grill Point won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival, as well as Best Director and Best Ensemble at the Chicago Film Festival and Best Director at the Ghent Film Festival in Belgium. Cloud 9 premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 where it won the Jury Coup de Coeur Award in the Un Certain Regard section. The film was nominated at the European Film Awards for Best Actress and Best Director and won the Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Film (bronze) at the German Film Awards in 2009. Whiskey with Vodka was awarded Best Director at the International Film Festival Karlovy Vary in 2009. Stopped on Track won the Prize of Un Certain Regard at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and the German Film Award 2012 in four categories: Best Film (gold), Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.

Stopped on Track

Director
Andreas Dresen
Writer
Andreas Dresen, Cooky Ziesche
Production
Rommel Film
Cast
Milan Peschel, Steffi Kühnert, Talisa Lilly Lemke, Mika Nilson Seidel, Ursula Werner, Otto Mellies, Bernhard Schütz, Marie Rosa Tietjen, Christine Schorn
Photography
Michael Hammon
Montage
Jörg Hauschild
Producer
Peter Rommel
Festivals & Awards
Cannes Film Festival 2011 – Un Certain Regard Prize; German Film Awards 2012 – Best Film, Best Director, Best Leading Actor, Best Supporting Actor

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