International Competition

WESTERN

• Director: Valeska Grisebach
• GERMANY, BULGARIA, AUSTRIA / 2017 / DCP / Colour / 119´ / German, English, Bulgarian; Turkish, English s.t.

• Screenplay: Valeska Grisebach
• Director of Photography: Bernhard Keller
• Editing: Bettina Böhler
• Cast: Meinhard Neumann, Reinhardt Wetrek, Syuleyman Alilov Letifov, Veneta Frangova
• Producer: Jonas Dornbach, Janine Jackowski, Maren Ade, Valeska Grisebach, Michel Merkt
• Production Co.: Komplizen Film, Chouchkov Brothers, Coop 99, KNM, ZDF-Das Kleine Fernsehspiel
• World Sales: Films Boutique

- 2018 ISTANBUL Golden Tulip Best Film

- 2017 NEW HORIZONS (WROCLAW) Best Film, FIPRESCI Prize

- 2017 MAR DEL PLATA Best Director

- 2017 SEVILLA Grand Jury Award

Far away from home in Bulgaria, a group of German construction workers undertake an arduous job. One of them, Meinhardt, slowly starts developing a friendship with one of the locals who reside in a village close to the construction site. His refusal to be an ordinary foreigner raises suspicion in the eyes of his colleagues and the villagers. Starring real life workers, Valeska Grisebach’s Western, as evident by its title, employs Western iconography as it brings up a timely discussion about “foreignness”. Full of urgent observations about contemporary Europe, Western premiered at the A Certain Look section of the Cannes Film Festival.

This film was a Meetings on the Bridge participant.