67. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin Perspektive Deutsches Kino 09. - 19. Februar 2017

Press Screening Fri, 10.2. · 02:00pm CinemaxX 5

World Premiere (Opening of the Perpektive)

Fri, 10.2. · 07:30pm CinemaxX 3

Rerun1 Sat, 11.2. · 12:00am ColosseumRerun 2 Sat, 11.2. · 08:30pm CinemaxX 1

GABI

INFORMATION Fiction, DCP, Colour, 30:00 min., 24 B/s, 1:1.85, Dolby Digital 5.1 © 2017 German & English subtitles Shooting format: Video, HDCAM Project type: BA graduation film Year: 2017 Shooting period, shooting location: 2016, Berlin-Brandenburg

Screenplay Michael Fetter Nathansky Direction Michael Fetter Nathansky Cinematography Clara Rosenthal Editing Kai Eiermann Sound Robert Niemeyer Sound Mixing Lorenz Fischer Production Design Vera Thöndel Costume Design Maike Krych Producers Virginia Martin, Anna-Sophie Philippi Line Producer Andrea Wohlfeil Editorial Martina Nix (RBB) Production Filmuniversity Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (Coproduction)

Cast Gisa Flake (Gabi) Florian Kroop (Marco) Britta Steffenhagen (Sister) Martin Neuhaus (Husband) Dela Dabulamanzi (Customer in hair salon) Anja Karnstedt (Affair)

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Gisa Flake as Gabi in GABI, R: Michael Fetter Nathansky, © 2017

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SYNOPSIS „Ick sag nüscht, und mach allet über Augen.“ - I’ll say nothing. I’ll do it all with my eyes.

A uneasy emptiness is overshadowing tile-layer Gabi’s life. Her husband cheats, but she does not even mind. Her sister is pregnant and stressed out. Instead of recognising Gabi’s conundrum she increasingly shifts responsibilities on to Gabi. Ultimately, Gabi even has to take in her senile dad after a damage has made his retirement home uninhabitable. The only person paying attention to her is her apprentice Marco. He sees her. He talks to her. Almost exaggeratingly. Marco, too, has problems. He is not capable of separating from his unfaithful girlfriend. Therefore, he is practicing breaking up with her: with Gabi in the role of his girlfriend. This role play induces an emotional mix, ranging from tantrums to affection, during which the lines between reality and acting begin to blur.

At first, Gabi is skeptical. But slowly she learns to appreciate to put her own everyday life in scene. It seems that her acting is taking away from the bitterness of her life. As a consequence, Gabi starts to explore her own emotionality. She slipps different emotional roles, different Gabis: the Gabi, who never complains, the Gabi, who cries, the Gabi, who merely remains silent. But, what starts off as Gabi’s emotional opening-up, ends up as staged self-estrangement….

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DIRECTOR’S NOTE (by Michael Fetter Nathansky)

If I were asked to break down my own filmic universe into two types of films, it would come up with two those categories:

First: Films about intellectuals, who walk through Manhattan, kiss each other under the Brooklyn Bridge, discuss about sexual fantasy while wandering through museums, fall in love… But then however, in a pretty black-and-white, these intellectuals, while watching in the camera, fail because of their own inability to live, bewail the senselessness of life and finally find solace in Groucho Marx’s films and music by Louis Armstrong. I talk about Woody Allen a bit like about filmic parents, who I am ashamed of, each time they drive me to school by car. But well, for a reason, the quote “I would never wanna belong to any club that that will have me as a member“ is cited by Allen himself.

Second: Films about non-intellectuals, who have a certain bodily strength, working and sweating. Films about humans, who have all kinds of everyday problems (the father is ill, the husband who is a drinker cheats and the job situation is uncertain). Then, we keep watching them shatteredly how they cope with their tough struggles, how they, despite everything, retain their dignity - not because of their self-reflexive thoughts but thanks to their courage and perseverance. During my studies I watched “Rosetta” by the brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, which is a much smarter film than my rough description could suggest. If Woody Allen was the embarrassing parental couple in my filmic self-perception, than I would describe „Rosetta“ as my current filmic girlfriend.

Consequently, GABI describes the first filmic encounter of my parents with my new girlfriend. Admittedly, I was quite nervous. What if they did not get along with each other? In my eyes, GABI finally is not as tensed as I had expected such a meeting. I think that GABI demonstrates that those two filmic worlds, after all, could match very well.

In my opinion, it is because also a tile layering Gabi is capable to fail on her own senselessness of life and to find in the directorial practice a way of dealing with herself and her environment. Finally, GABI is the attempt to find a language for everything that was already said so often but never changed anything, for everything that never could have been said, and for everything that never will be said.

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MICHAEL FETTER NATHANSKY Michael Fetter Nathansky was born in 1993 in Cologne. He lived in Germany and Spain. Since October 2013 he studies Directing at the Filmuniversity Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF. Since then he has made several films playing with the limits of fictional and non-ficitonal film. One of them was the mockumentary »Kurtsky – Die Eintagsfliege«, a cooperation with the rbb, which was screened at DOK Leipzig in 2014.

Filmografy (Director) 2017 - GABI 2016 - Pitter 2015 - Chewbaccerl 2014 - Die Eintagsfliege

Short Film (30 min.), Filmuniversity Babelsberg & RBB Short Film (15 min.), Filmuniversity Babelsberg Short Documentary (7 min.), Filmuniversity Babelsberg & RBB Mockumentary (10 Min.), Filmuniversity Babelsberg & RBB

CLARA ROSENTHAL Clara Rosenthal was born in 1989 in Dresden. After her schooltime at the Freien Waldorf School Dresden she started her bachelor studies of Cinematography at the Filmuniversity Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF. She spent the winter semester 2015/2016 as an exchange student at the Universidad de las Artes (ISA) in Cuba. In her bachelor thesis Clara attended to the topic „Aestheticising Distance - the attitude and the I in documentary film“. Since October 2016 she is a master’s student of Cinematography at the Filmuniversity Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF.

Filmography (Cinematography) 2017 - GABI 2016 - Bajuschki 2015 - Pitter

2014 - Kohle im Keller

Short Film (30 min.), D: Michael Fetter Nathansky, Filmuniversity & RBB Documentary Film, D: Natascha Sinelnikova, Filmuniversity Babelsberg Short Film (20 min.), D: Michael Fetter Nathansky, Filmuniversity Babelsberg Documentary Film (20 min.), D: Liesa Schober

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VIRGINIA MARTIN Virginia Martin was born in 1990 in Berlin. She went to school in Berlin and Frankfurt/Main. In 2011 she commenced her Bachelor in Media and Communication Studies at the University of Mannheim. During this time she spent a semester abroad at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, Spain. Since 2015 Virginia Martin is studying Media Studies (M.A.) at the Filmuniversity Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF. She is programme coordinator of the international student film festival Sehsüchte and employee of the institute for artistic research (IKF).

Filmographie 2017 - GABI 2017 - Lieber sicher. Lieber Leben.

Short Film (30 Min.), D: Michael Fetter Nathansky, Production Cinema Promotional Spot for the road safety campaign of the State Brandenburg »Lieber sicher. Lieber Leben.«, D: Jonas Ludwig Walter, Director’s Assistant

ANNA-SOPHIE PHILIPPI Anna-Sophie Philippi was born in 1992 in Worms. During her schooltime she spent an high school year in Sao Paulo/Brazil. After graduating from high school in 2011 she began her Bachelor in Media and Communication Studies at the University of Mannheim. Since 2015 Anna-Sophie Philippi is studying Media Studies (M.A.) at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF. There she is PR & Marketing person for the international student film festival Sehsüchte and the university’s coordinator in the Association of German Film Schools.

Filmographie 2017 - GABI 2017 - Lieber sicher. Lieber Leben.

Short Film (30 Min.), D: Michael Fetter Nathansky, Production Cinema Promotional Spot for the road safety campaign of the State Brandenburg »Lieber sicher. Lieber Leben.«, D: Jonas Ludwig Walter, Director’s Assistant

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CONTACT Filmuniversity Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF Cristina Marx Festivals & Distribution Marlene-Dietrich-Allee 11 14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany Email: distribution@filmuniversitaet.de T: 0049 (0)331 6202 564 F: 0049 (0)331 6202 568 www.filmuniversitaet.de www.facebook.com/gabiderfilm

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Gisa Flake and Florian Kroop in GABI, © C. Rosenthal / Filmuniversität / RBB 2017

Gisa Flake and Britta Steffenhagen in GABI, © C. Rosenthal / Filmuniversität / RBB 2017

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