Synopsis

Singing in never-ending corridors; a refrigerator filled with blood behind the wig shelf; twittering fairies glide through the canteen; timpani, trumpets, and the omnipresent voice over the loudspeaker. Prompting, grand soliloquies and absurd dialogues. Every gesture counts. Below the stage, on massive hoists, a jubilant chorus floats upwards: «The Singing City.» The film uses Calixto Bieito’s Parsifal production in Stuttgart as its central theme, enabling viewers to immerse themselves into the complex world of a major opera house and observe the people in this mystifying world as they go about their daily work. Visions contend here with the reality of what is feasible: every opera a Babylonian endeavour and a veritable pleasure for the senses.

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• Credits

  Written by

  Thiemo Hehl

  Vadim Jendreyko

  Thomas Tielsch

  Directed by

  Vadim Jendreyko

  Director of photography

  Lothar Heinrich

  Vadim Jendreyko

  Editing

  Daniel Gibel

  Assistant editor

  Miriam Zimmermann

  Sound

  Torsten Lenk

  Steffen Müller

  Sound Design

  Daniel Almada

  Mixing

  Florian Beck

  Light

  Matthias Behrens

  Production Manager

  Sönke Held

  Thiemo Hehl

  Assistant producers

  Julia Cöllen

  Jan-Peter Heusermann

  Production manager opera

  Anne-Kathrin Peitz

  Almut Benkert

  Assistant producer opera

  Birgit Meyer

  Editors 3sat

  Maria Kasten

  Sonja Schneider

  Producer

  Thomas Tielsch

• Technical Details

  Format	DCP
  Duration	92 min
  Year	2011
  Original Language	German
  Subtitles
  Country	Germany
  ISAN

• Awards

  Basler Filmpreis 2011

  Bester Langfilm