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Nebenan

Next Door
Competition 2021
© Reiner Bajo
Berlin, the Prenzlauer Berg district. When this summer day is over, nothing will ever be the same again. Only Daniel doesn’t know that yet. The protagonist of this tragicomic scenario is as unsuspecting as he is accustomed to success. His loft apartment is stylish and so is his wife, and nanny has the children under control. Everything is tip-top, bilingual and ready for him to jet off to an audition where a role in a superhero film awaits the celebrated German-Spanish actor. Popping into the bar on the corner, he finds Bruno sitting there. As transpires by the minute, Bruno has been waiting for this moment for a long time. And so this eternally overlooked man – one of reunification’s losers and a victim of the gentrification of what was once East Berlin – takes his revenge. With Daniel as his target.
Brühl’s directorial debut is spot-on. Based on an idea by the director and written by Daniel Kehlmann, the script combines razor-sharp dialogue with oddball bar-room banter. Pitting global versus local, and hand-luggage-only travel versus eavesdropping from the courtyard window, the film celebrates this intimate corner-pub chamber piece as if it were a genre of its own. The character psychology is perfect and the verbal spats never-ending. Peter Kurth is especially nasty as Bruno, and Daniel Brühl is deliciously self-deprecating.
by Daniel Brühl
with Daniel Brühl, Peter Kurth, Rike Eckermann, Aenne Schwarz, Gode Benedix, Vicky Krieps, Mex Schlüpfer, Steffen Scheumann Germany 2021 German, English, Spanish 92’ Colour Rating R12

Part of the Berlinale Summer Special

With

  • Daniel Brühl (Daniel)
  • Peter Kurth (Bruno)
  • Rike Eckermann (Landlady)
  • Aenne Schwarz (Clara)
  • Gode Benedix (Micha, pub regular)
  • Vicky Krieps (Actress)
  • Mex Schlüpfer (Guido, homeless man)
  • Steffen Scheumann (Dirk)

Crew

Director Daniel Brühl
Screenplay Daniel Kehlmann
Cinematography Jens Harant
Editing Marty Schenk
Music Moritz Friedrich, Jakob Grunert
Sound Design Noemi Hempel, Dominik Schleier
Sound Roland Winke
Production Design Susanne Hopf
Costumes Lisy Christl
Make-Up Heike Merker, Annett Schulze
Assistant Director Sebastian Fahr-Brix
Casting Simone Bär, Alexandra Montag
Production Manager Jan Brandt
Producer Malte Grunert
Co-Producers Willi Geike, Annegret Weitkämper-Krug, Klaus Dohle, Daniel Brühl
Co-Production Warner Bros. Entertainment Hamburg
Gretchenfilm Hamburg
Erfttal Film Siegburg
Amusement Park Film Hamburg

World Sales

Beta Cinema

http://www.betacinema.com http://www.betacinema.com

Produced by

Amusement Park Film

Photos

Daniel Brühl

© Pascal Buenning

The multi-award-winning German-Spanish actor and film producer was born in Barcelona, Spain in 1978. He is internationally known for his roles in Good Bye, Lenin!, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, his acclaimed portrait of Niki Lauda in Rush, and The First Avenger: Civil War. He is currently starring in the Netflix series The Alienist.

Filmography

2021 Nebenan (Next Door)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2021