PLANET
PLANET is a playful short film about the long-term consequences of
unsustainable development. Though the set design that Nikolai Kinski
moves through is fantastical, the background of this environmental film
is very real (written and directed by The Vikings).
The viewer follows the adventures and misadventures of a temperamental
simpleton day after day, as he sets out to explore his unusually small
world.
Even as he’s marvelling at the planet’s pristine and natural beauty, the
man thoughtlessly begins to destroy its very foundations through reckless
behaviour. And eventually, this behaviour comes back to haunt him.
Without realising it, our man has soon walked around the entire planet on
his daily tour. He’s literally back where he started. Although he
complains bitterly about the increasing pollution he begins to encounter,
he doesn’t recognise it as his own.
Singlehandedly, the man transforms the planet of his dreams into his own
worst nightmare: the forest becomes a charred wasteland, the once-idyllic
sheep meadow an oily, apocalyptic marsh, and his swimming pond becomes a
huge landfill.
1
AWARDS
AND
NOMINATIONS
18th International Environmental Film Festival Barcelona: Golden Sun
award as Best Short Film 2011
11th International Environmental Film Festival Toronto: nominated as Best
Short Film 2010
27th FESTROIA International Film Festival Setúbal: nominated as Best
Short Film in 2011
FESTIVAL
SCREENINGS
11th PLANET IN FOCUS, International Environmental Film Festival Toronto,
Canada, 13–17 October 2010
http://planetinfocus.org/
BERLIN NEXT FESTIVAL at Gaite Lyrique Paris, France,
29 March–3 April 2011
http://www.gaite-lyrique.net/
8th International Green Film Festival, Seoul, Korea,
18–25 May 2011
http://en.gffis.org/
2
18th Festival International Environmental Film Festival, Barcelona,
Spain, 1–8 June 2011
http://www.ficma.com/
27th FESTROIA International Film Festival, Setúbal, Portugal,
3–12 June 2011
http://www.festroia.pt/
5th PICURT International Environmental Film Festival, Ortedo, Spain, 21–
25 June 2011
http://www.picurt.org/
12th BUSTER, Copenhagen International Film Festival for Children & Youth,
Copenhagen, Denmark, 21–25 September 2011
http://www.buster.dk
3
CREDITS
Starring
NIKOLAI KINSKI
Written and directed by
THE VIKINGS/BJÖRN RÜHMANN & MATTHEW
BRANNING
Produced by
INTERPOL+− BERLIN
In cooperation with
BIGFISH FILMPRODUKTION GMBH
Post production
PICTORION DAS WERK GMBH
Director of photography
KOLJA BRANDT
Editor
RAIN KENCANA
Additional editors
KAI KNIEPKAMP
MARTY SCHENK
Production design
SVEN GESSNER
TECHNICAL
DATA
Short, 2010
Country of production
Germany
Exact running time
25 min. 56 sec.
Shooting format
RED/colour
Frames per second
25
Screening format
1080 ps
Film sound
Stereo
Original language
English
4
BJÖRN
RÜHMANN
AND
(THE
MATTHEW
BRANNING
VIKINGS)
The Vikings are a multi-discipline creative collective based in Paris and
New York. Founded in 2007 by Björn Rühmann and Matthew Branning. The
Vikings have since established an international reputation in several
different creative fields, including directing (both advertising and
short film), photography and illustration.
Among The Vikings’ best-known projects is POWER OF WIND, a short
film/long-format TV commercial created in participation with Nordpol+ and
the German Environmental Ministry. In addition to receiving an honourable
mention at Sundance Film Festival in the short film category, POWER OF
WIND was also the world’s second most awarded television commercial in
2007 (Gunn Report). The Vikings have also received international
recognition for THE RAMP, (a mockumentary written and filmed for BMW
North America) and TELETHEATER (a format-busting advertisement/theatre
play for Nordpol+ and Renault Germany).
Before creating The Vikings, Rühmann and Branning worked as creatives at
the advertising agency TBWA/Paris. Together, the duo has won over 150
major international awards.
5
NIKOLAI
KINSKI
Nikolai Kinski was born in 1976 in Paris and grew up in France and
California/USA. At the age of eleven he acted in his first film alongside
his father Klaus Kinski in KINSKI/PAGANINI. At 18 he attended the UCLA
School of Theater, Film and Television, Los Angeles, California/USA,
where he received a Bachelor of Arts in acting, following which he began
working on independent films and performing off-Broadway.
In 2004, Nikolai moved to Berlin and began learning German. Since then he
has appeared in numerous German and international film and television
productions. He starred in ÆONFLUX alongside Charlize Theron in 2005. In
2006, Nikolai won the Romy Award for Best Newcomer for his portrayal of
Egon Schiele in KLIMT with John Malkovich.
The film TWO LIVES OF DANIEL SHORE was Nikolai’s first lead role in a
German feature.
The film was premiered at the Hof International Film
Festival and was released in German cinemas in the spring of 2010. On the
side of John Hurt and Tim Roth, Kinski will appear in the upcoming 2012
film THE ABSINTHE DRINKERS.
6
INTERPOL+−
INTERPOL+− is based in and between the creative poles Hamburg and Berlin.
The creative laboratory was set up in 2009 to develop new formats of
creative media ranging from literature to short films and from video
installations to exhibitions, among many others.
All projects are driven by INTERPOL+−’s intent to broaden the current
understanding of creativity and to develop a body of work that is
authentic and original in its truest sense.
In 2009, INTERPOL+− produced the interactive soap opera ZEIT DER
ENTSCHEIDUNG (Time of Decision) for the Bundestag elections.
Young people experienced the differences between Germany’s main parties,
as each soap episode had five different endings based on the parties’
manifestos. ZEIT DER ENTSCHEIDUNG was nominated for the Grimme Online
Award 2010 and won Bronze Direct Lions at the Cannes Lions Festival 2010.
PLANET is the first short film produced by INTERPOL+− The environmental
film creates a humorous mirror to our own lack of perspectives and our
myopic vision. After being selected at international film festivals in
Toronto, Seoul, Paris and Copenhagen, PLANET has won the Golden Sun Award
as best short film 2011 at the International Environmental Film Festival
in Barcelona.
In September 2010, INTERPOL+− designed a box at FC St. Pauli’s Millerntor
Stadium in Hamburg: the Gegenpol− (Counter Pole). As an alternative
design to conventional glass- or concrete-enclosed box seats in modern
football stadiums, the Gegenpol− represents a homage to the football club
and the neighbourhood of St. Pauli. On the outside of the upper container
there is a terrace with 26 seats installed, offering fans the best view
over the pitch. Gegenpol− was invited to take part in the German
Architecture Day 2011 and won Silver at Cannes Lions 2011(Outdoor).
7
In May 2010, DER WIND – EIN KURZES NATURSCHAUSPIEL was performed by
INTERPOL+− in Hamburg. It was produced by INTERPOL+− in cooperation with
Deutsches Schauspielhaus. While the audience was sitting behind the
showcase, the actors, under the direction of Samuel Weiss, performed on
the sidewalks facing unpredictable reactions of people passing by. The
play is based on the short film THE POWER OF WIND, which was produced by
Nordpol+ in 2007.
In August 2011, INTERPOL+− presented an alternative design for the
conversion of the home stretch strands in the FC St. Pauli Millerntor
Stadium, developed in collaboration with the engineering firm osd. The
INTERPOL+− team took the initiative to develop an architectural concept
that takes the special importance of the home stretch stands into account
as the centre of fan culture and club history. www.gegen-gerade.de
8
FOR
FURTHER
INFORMATION
PLEASE
CONTACT
INTERPOL+− Kreativlabor
PUBLIC RELATIONS
FRANS STUBER
Linienstraße 144
10115 Berlin
Tel +49 151 156 76 653, Fax +49 30 24 63 047 10
frans@interpol-berlin.com, www.planet-the-film.com
9