CAFÉ WALDLUFT
Matthias Koßmehl / Germany / 2015 / 79 min / Colour
The "Cafè Waldluft" is no longer what it once was. At one time, the town of Berchtesgaden, in the picturesque Bavarian Alps, was a renowned, busy tourist destination, but from those years only a few elderly and loyal clients remain. Instead, the hotel hosts refugees from all over the world, who here await and dream of a new beginning and a new life, despite infinite bureaucratic obstacles. At the Cafè Waldluft we witness the encounter of faraway worlds and their diverse languages, customs, and characters, under the watchful maternal eye of the owner and the incredulous elderly tourists who struggle to grasp a changing society. The hotel, therefore, becomes the site of experimentation of a new world.
Matthias Koßmehl
Born in Munich in 1987, after various positions in the film and television sector and directing the short film Requiem für eine Krämerseele, from 2008 to 2013 he studied at the Facoltà di Design e Arti at the Libera Università in Bolzano. He participated in the XIX Film Festival della Lessinia with Welcome to Bavaria. Café Waldluft, his first feature film, has won various awards including the DEFA prize at the DOK Leipzig Festival in 2015.
Credits
Subject Matthias KoßmehlCinematography Bastian EsserSound Ralph Thiekoetter, Till Wollenweber, Thekla DemeliusEditing Andreas NicolaiMusic André FeldhausProducer Matthias KoßmehlProduction company Matthias Kossmehl Filmproduktion in co-production with Bayerischer Rundfunk