Die Lage

Condition

The motorway has been shut. Rows of portable toilets line the edge of the forest. Police stand in front. What’s happening? The film Condition tells of the very same, when in September 2011 Pope Benedict XVI travelled to Germany as part of his plan to promote the New Evangelization, paying visits to the city of Erfurt and a site in the Eichsfeld region, both in Thuringia. The situation there is as one might expect. A few weeks later at St. Peter’s Basilica, the Pope announced his decision to declare a “Year of Faith”, to begin on October 11, 2012.

Director's Biography
Thomas Heise, born 1955 in Berlin, Germany, studied at the Academy of Film & Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. His first documentary WOZU DENN ÜBER DIESE LEUTE EINEN FILM (1980, doc; CE '06) was banned from public screening. For many years Heise's documentaries have been attracting international attention. Since 2007 he has been teaching at Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe. Condition was screened at Berlinale 2012. // Films (Selected): STAU – JETZT GEHT'S LOS (1992, doc; CE '08), IM GLÜCK (Neger) (2006, doc; CE '06), SONNENSYSTEM (Solar System, 2011, doc), DIE LAGE (Condition, 2012)
European Panorama Documentary 2012
Thomas Heise
Germany 2012
black and white
73 minutes
OV with English subtitles
Screenplay Thomas Heise
Cinematography Peter Badel/Robert Nickolaus/Maxim Wolfram
Editing Mike Gürgen
Sound/Sounddesign Robert Nickolaus, Thomas Heise
Music Konrad “Conny” Bauer
Production
ma.ja.de. filmproduktion Marienplatz 1 04103 Leipzig Germany T +49 341 983 96 96 F +49 341 215 66 39 leipzig@majade.de www.majade.de
World Sales
Deckert Distribution GmbH