REVIVED

By Christian Schilling

Carl is born with a string on his back—one that must be wound like a music box for him to stay alive. As a young soldier, he regains consciousness in a raging river. His comrade and longtime friend Henry drifts lifelessly in the water. A race against time begins as fragments of his childhood memories flash through his mind.

Friendship

The diploma film in the field of advertising is far from a conventional commercial production—it scales up significantly in scope and delves much deeper thematically. With a runtime of nearly five minutes and an impressive cast of up to 60 extras on set, the project leans more toward a feature-film aesthetic.

Despite the expansive narrative framework, the cinematography remains intimately focused on the characters. The historical setting, inspired by World War II and the pastoral charm of half-timbered villages in central Germany, subtly recedes into the background, allowing space for a deeply human and profoundly dramatic story about the bond between two young men.

PLAY

(No) Countryside Bliss

A constant, leaden heaviness lingers over the lyrical images— even the flashbacks to Carl’s past carry emotional weight.

As a child with a disability, he relies on the care and support of his mother and his best friend, Henry. He faces exclusion alongside the usual struggles of growing up. The color palette is earthy, subdued, and dark, with only a few shades of blue contrasting against the oxblood red of the half-timbered houses and the weathered wood of the stables.

For the depiction of the village setting, we focused on authentic activities for the extras— a coal distribution point, a laundry house, apple harvest, flax spinning, and displaced war refugees— but without the abundance of a romantically glorified rural idyll. Instead, we tell a story of scarcity and deprivation, painting a realistic portrait of Carl’s emotional world.

The tightly regimented military infirmary is merely improvised within a 16th-century cider barn— the surgical area sectioned off with dirty cloths. In the nocturnal darkness, people become silhouettes, drifting like shadows, weakened by war.

Crew

Director / Christian Schilling – DOP / Simon Drescher (Village) – David I. Dinçer – Production Company / Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH – Executive Producers / Christian Arnold, Daniel Kottirsch – Editor / Ernst Lattik – Production Design / Jan Christoph Scheurer – Production Design Assistant / Marlene Mehrlein – Set Dresser / Marie Becher & Nikolas Altmannsberger – Standby Props / Claudia Frankmann – Costume Design / Laura Schäffler – Make-Up Artists, Prosthetic / Paolo Celano & Jeannine Bieri – Production Design Consultant (Pre-Prod.) / Mona Cathleen Otterbach – Music Composers / Alexander Wolf David & Petteri Sainio – Orchestra / Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg – Orchestration / Meike Katrin Stein – Sounddesign / Robin Harff & Floyd Fürstenau – Mixing / Robin Harff – Foley Artist / Johanna Roth – Foley Recordist / Max Hartstang – Post Production / Slaughterhouse – Post Producer / Philip Breidthardt – Color Grading / Maximilian Baule – Making-Of / Julian Greenwood

CAST

CARL / Alex Hope – HENRY / Angus Dunican – YOUNG CARL / Oskar Netzel – YOUNG HENRY / Anton Krymskiy – MOTHER CARL / Natascha Kuch – MIDWIFE / Gesine Hannemann – BABY CARL / Anna Maleika