Land gewinnen

I recently saw this at the 2008 Palm Springs International Short Fest. Andrej (Radik Golovkov) and his girlfriend Lena (Olga Kolb) came to Germany from the Ukraine and have been living there illegally for seven years. They now have a son Mischa (Andreas Schust) who is almost seven years old and has not yet been enrolled in school out of fear that the paperwork required to enroll him would mean the authorities would learn Andrej and Lena are illegals and cause them to be deported. Their landlord Winkelmann (Jan-Peter Heyne) has a plan on how they can enroll Mischa and become legals. From a screenplay by Fabian Wiemker this is director Marc Brummund's fourth short. Brummund, from Hamburg, was a psychology and journalism student who went on to study documentaries film-making and is was with the prestigious Hamburg Media School when he made this short two years ago. It has won several awards at festivals around the world. This is a good film with a good cast and a simple uncluttered storyline. Schust is absolutely charming as Mischa. With Hedi Kriegeskotte as the stern schoolmistress. Cinematography by Bettina He4rznek. Word is that director Brummund has plans to make a feature film of this short with the working title Andre. This could be a promising filmmaker and I enjoyed this short and would recommend it and give it a 8.0 out of 10.