The Specimen
based on a Grotesque by Valentin Katayev
Germany 2002, DVCam/DigiBeta, black/white, 18:26 minutes
“And in this cabinet” the head of the museum says, “you will find something very unique; in fact unique and one-of-its-kind in all the USSR: the specimen of a philistine from the year nineteen-o-five.”
When, before the revolution, accidentally arrested, the philistine – a tsarist civil servant of high status – falls in deep, lethargic sleep.
20 years later he wakes up and finds himself in a post-revolutionary, still young Soviet Union. He is stunned. He is shocked. But a philistine always finds his way.
German or English titles
Photographs
Cast & Crew
Narrator | Hanns Zischler |
Director of Museum | Raymond Wolff |
Philistine | Thorsten Heidel |
Visitor of Museum Paperboy |
Heidi von Plato |
Visitor of Museum Lady |
Eva Ebner |
Visitor of Museum Driver Citizen |
Boris Raev |
Visitor of Museum Worker with placard |
Sissi Tax |
Singer | Oana Kitzu |
Accordion | Dejan Jovanovic |
accompaniment on the Welte-Cinema-Organ, Filmmuseum Potsdam |
Helmut Schulte |
Screenplay Director Cinematographer Montage |
Ulrike Ottinger |
Make-up | Cornelia Wentzel |
Lighting and Sound | Stefan Gohlke |
Music Taking | Lilly Grote |
Avid Editor | Bettina Blickwede |
Mixing | Christian Wilmes |
Online | Wolfgang Lorenz |
Assistant Producer | Sean Runge |
With special thanks to | Katharina Sykora Gabriele Heidecker Marosch Schröder Filmmuseum Potsdam |