At 8:15 p.m.: Event film based on Storm’s master novella “The Schimmelreiter”; Film music recording by the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna
Vienna (OTS) – Director Andreas Prochaska (“The Dark Valley”) staged “The Flood – Death on the Dike”, an event film based on Theodor Storm’s famous master novella “The Schimmelreiter”: it tells the story of a community of fate on the Frisian North Sea coast, which – the brute forces exposed to nature – torn between progress and superstition. When a devastating storm surge tears a family apart, trauma is ignited. The Austrians Philine Schmölzer, Janina Stopper and Franziska Weisz stood in front of the camera together with Anton Spieker, Sascha Geršak, Detlev Buck and others. Daniela Baumgärtl and Constantin Lieb wrote the script – based loosely on the 2001 novel “Hauke Haiens Tod” by Andrea Paluch and Robert Habeck. The ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna recorded the film music by Karwan Marouf (“Fuchs im Bau”) for the production “Die Flut – Tod am Deich”. ORF 2 shows the production of NORDFILM in co-production with ARD Degeto in collaboration with ORF, supported by the nordmedia Film- und Mediengesellschaft Niedersachsen/Bremen on Saturday, April 27, 2024, at 8:15 p.m.
More about the content:
On a night of storm surges on the North Sea coast, the young farm worker Iven (Anton Spieker) brings three-year-old Wienke, daughter of the dike chief Hauke Haien (Detlev Buck) and his wife Elke (Franziska Weisz), to Hamburg and drops her off in front of a children’s home. Iven himself ends up as a bouncer in St. Pauli. 15 years later, a stubborn young woman (Philine Schmölzer) unexpectedly appears before him and demands that he take her to the coast and help her find her parents. She wants to know who she is and where she comes from. Iven reluctantly brings Wienke back to the village of Stegebüll because he too has suppressed the ominous past. A dramatic and emotional journey begins for both of them into a lost time in which the downfall of the dike chief Hauke Haien and his family was inevitable.
Director Andreas Prochaska: “’The Flood – Death on the Dike’ was an incredibly enriching experience for me as an Austrian”
“’The Flood – Death on the Dike’ was an incredibly enriching experience for me as an Austrian who, before this adventure, thought a dike count was a nobleman and a tidal creek was detergent. The North Sea, the mudflats, the light, the special mentality of the people and of course the script by Daniela Baumgärtl and Constantin Lieb were the basis for an unusual film, the creation of which challenged, surprised and delighted the actors, the team and me.
Angelika Möser, artistic director of the orchestra: “The RSO always plays film music – be it live or as a recording – with great enthusiasm.”
“The musicians of the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna are extremely flexible due to the extremely diverse repertoire – the ideal prerequisite for this task. They are masters at creating different tones and moods within seconds and are very familiar with the technical framework. They always play film music – be it live or as a recording – with great enthusiasm.”
“The Flood – Death on the Dike” was filmed from April 25th to June 3rd, 2022 in Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Hamburg.