[Story]
Lucy, a privileged North American in contemporary Berlin, living a life of post Punk hedonism, roams the streets with her best friend, Derek. Together they use the city like a playground, a stage, and a never ending party. Into their lives enters Galia, a young Israeli woman carrying the promise of a better, cleaner way of living.
A tribute to Punk underground films turns into a melodrama in “Saturn Returns”, mirroring Lucy and Galia’s modulating states of mind. Their look into each other’s life and culture, becomes an investigation of empty facades.
The film was constructed by both improvised and pre-scripted scenes, as required by the nature of each scene.
FORM
The production of this film took place in December 2007 in Israel and in Februrary 2008 in Berlin, with professional and amateur actors and a budget of about €2,000. The film was shot and edited by the director, with one assistant on set. All public spaces (including streets, museums, shops, bars) were shot “as is”, with no interventions and no extras.
One of the objectives of the film was to create a modulating film language that adapts to the states of mind of the characters. The production adjusted itself to every part of the film, sometimes immitating documentary approaches and sometimes setting a framework where scripted dialogue was enacted within a pre-planned shooting.
The actors, on their side, toyed with the tensions between their personal lives and their characters’ personas, with shifting boundries. The film is set within a social scene of the Kreuzberg neighboorhood in Berlin, where Chloe Griffin (Lucy), Joshua Bogle (Derek) and most of the cast live. The actress Tal Meiri (Galia) came from Israel to Berlin to play the part of the outsider newcomer. Believing that the production and the formal language of a film convey a state-of-mind and ideology, “Saturn Returns” presents to the viewer a collision of different interpretations of reality through the relationship of Galia and Lucy.
2009
GERMANY/ISRAEL
WRITTEN BY
Imri Kahn, Lior Shamriz
with the creative collaboration of the cast
DIRECTED BY
Lior Shamriz
CAST
Chloe Griffin
Tal Meiri
Joshua Bogle
Julien Binet
Martin Deckert
Heinz Emigholz
René Schönenberger
Imri Kahn