Have you ever felt like a Supporting Character in your own life? What if you really are one…?
Short Synopsis
In a repressive three class-society, Paula, a simple Supporting Character, is about to face the most important test of her life: she has to prove she deserves to be a Lead. She is at the top of her class at the Main Character School – but so far has failed in generating great emotional music. In search of a solution, she finds herself in the abyss of the cinematic world, on the fringes of the storyline and lost amongst the Outtakes.
DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY
SOPHIE LINNENBAUM
Director and writer Sophie Linnenbaum was born in Nuremberg, Germany. After completing her diploma in psychology and working as a playwright, she studied directing at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF and is shooting series and documentaries. Her playfully pointed short films have won several awards and screened at numerous national and international festivals, such as the multiple award-winning [OUT OF FRA]ME and the German Short Film awarded PIX. Most recently, she traveled with her documentary STORIES OF DADS which won several awards such as the FFF Förderpreis Dokumentarfilm at DOKFest Munich and is nominated for the German Documentary Award. THE ORDINARIES is her graduation film and first fiction feature.
FILMOGRAPHY
2022 The Ordinaries / The Ordinaries
2021 Stories of Dads (documentary) / Väter Unser
COMMENTS
OF THE DIRECTOR
The “we” of a society is defined through the emphasis on cultural commonalities and the demarcation from the so-called „other“: we are us because we are not them. Identity is built on exclusion, justified by an imaginative norm, stabilizing structures of power. THE ORDINARIES takes up these themes playfully in a filmic meta world, divided into different classes of Main Characters, Supporting Characters and Outtakes. The protagonist Paula searches for her true identity, struggling between self-perception and external attributions, but finally calls the entire storyline into question – that’s my playful fist in the air: change the story, change the world.
MAIN CAST BIOGRAPHY
Fine Sendel
Fine Sendel is born in 2000 and a Berlin based actress for theatre, film and television. After graduation from high school, she began studying acting at the renowned University of Arts - Universität der Künste Berlin. During her studies, she acted in several plays, such as CHAMPIGNOL WIDER WILLEN (Director: Herbert Fritsch) at the Schaubühne Berlin in 2018. After graduating in 2021, she worked in several productions including the TV series TINA MOBIL (Director: Richard Huber), which won the German Grimme Preis television award, and most recently in the feature film DIE MITTAGSFRAU, directed by Barbara Albert and based on the bestseller book THE BLIND SIDE OF THE HEART by Julia Franck. THE ORDINARIES is her first leading role in a feature film.
Jule Böwe
Jule Böwe was born in Rostock and has been an ensemble member of the Schaubühne Berlin since 1999, where she has worked with many great directors, including Luk Perceval, Benedict Andrews, Anne-Cécile Vandalem, Romeo Castellucci, Falk Richter and Thomas Ostermeier. Jule Böwe also works in radio drama and can be seen in numerous film and television productions. Marcus Lenz, Florian Schwarz, Kornél Mundruczó, Oliver Rihs, but also Baran Bo Odar, Olivier Assayas, Lars Montag and Helene Hegemann are among the directors she has worked with. Her latest production, "Strafe - Ein hellblauer Tag" by David Wnendt, based on the short stories by Ferdinand von Schirach, will be shown on RTL+ from June 2022. She has received several awards for her extensive work and acting in theater and film.
MAIN CAST
Fine Sendel as Paula Feinmann
Jule Böwe as Elisa Feinmann
Henning Peker as Housemaid / Hilde
Noah Tinwa as Simon
Sira Faal as Hannah Cooper
Denise M’Baye as Frau Dr. Cooper
MAIN CREW
Writer: Sophie Linnenbaum, Michael Fetter Nathansky
Director: Sophie Linnenbaum
Producer: Laura Klippel, Britta Strampe
Production Design: Josefine Lindner, Max-Josef Schönborn
Director of Photography: Valentin Selmke
Steadicam Operator: Lasse Liebelt
Sound Engineer: Alexandra Praet, Leo Aderhold
VFX Supervisor: Johannes Blech
Costume Design: Sophie Peters
Make-up Artist: Elena Ziegler
Casting Director: Karl Schirnhofer
Editor: Kai Eiermann
Music Composer: Fabian Zeidler
Sound Design and Sound Mixing: Nicolas Voß
Postproduction Supervisor: Arno Scholwin
Colorist: Ana Izquierdo
Commissioning Editor ZDF: Jörg Schneider
Title Design / Poster Art Work: Inês Gomes Ferreira
TECHNICAL DETAILS
Original title: The Ordinaries
International title: The Ordinaries
Duration: 120 min
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Format: 2K
Sound: 5.1
Year: 2022
Original language: German
Country of production: Germany
Production Companies: Bandenfilm Laura Klippel & Britta Strampe GbR
Co-production Companies: ZDF – Das Kleine Fernsehspiel, Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF
With the support of: Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg, nordmedia – Film- und Mediengesellschaft Niedersachsen/Bremen, Bundesbeauftragte für Kultur und Medien, Filmförderungsanstalt
