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 |