Germany 2012
Starts July 18, 2013
Directed by: Stanislav Günter
Writing credits: Stanislav Günter
Cast: Mark Filatov, Emilia Schüle, Alex Brendemühl, Jurij Rosstalnyj, Katerina Poladjan
Length: 92 min.
“The time will come, when you decide to be your own boss. You will have to go your way. You will have to choose. Are you ready?” These are the questions with which every young man is confronted when coming of age. Dima Ritter (Filatov) is no exception. The director and screenwriter Stanislav Günter guides Dima through the challenging situations on the way to his adult self. Though based on a story of a Russian-German, the movie dwells upon the universal virtues: it is the story of a young man looking for his identity and the place, where he belongs.
Dima is half Russian, half German, but he does not belong anywhere. His nickname is Nemez, which stands in Russian for “German”. Unable to find his place in Germany, he starts to work for Georgij (Brendemühl), a thug art dealer. After an attempt to steal a collector’s coin, Dima ends up in jail. Once released, he tries to make a new start. He meets Nadja (Schüle) and, while taking part in her theatre project, he slowly leaves the immigrant circle to discover the life of a German student. Nadja’s name has a very special meaning in Russian: it is hope. This girl brings love, balance and hope into Dima’s life. He tries to break with his criminal past and avoids meeting Georgij. Yet he has one decision to make. Tired and with no prospect for a decent job, his father (Rosstalnyj) wants to go back to Russia. Dima’s mother (Poladjan) has to choose between Germany, the country of her ancestors, the dream of a home that has never turned reality, and her grumbling husband, with whom she has lived through ups and downs, who supported her in the venture of finding her place in Germany, but who failed to adapt. And both of them have to bid farewell their little son and welcome him as an adult member of their family, capable of making his own decisions and taking responsibility.
This story about integration, so popular in politics in Germany nowadays, is told with a personal touch. Director and Screenwriter Günter, like his lead Dima, came to Germany as a Russian-German child and worked his way up to become one of the promising young German filmmakers. His movie Nemez, though not yet released to the general audience, have won several young filmmakers awards: Best Film at the 29th Festival de Cine de Bogotá, Colombia 2012; Tankret-Dorst-Screenwriter Award at Drehbuchwerkstatt 2008-2009 in Munich; Eastman Förderpreis 2012 for best young director at the 46th Internationale Hofer Filmtage; and the VGF (Die Verwertungsgesellschaft für Nutzungsrechte an Filmwerken mbH) Young Producers Award.
There could have been a melodramatic happy end, if Georgij had left Dima in peace. But it is not easy to break up with the criminal past. Will Dima make the right choice? Watch the movie to have the answer. Whatever the outcome, Dima will never be the same. ()