LENINGRAD SYMPHONY

AUGUST 1942: DURING THE LENINGRAD BLOCKADE THE CONDUCTOR KARL ELIASBERG RECEIVES AN UNBELIEVABLE ASSIGNMENT BY RADIO PRODUCER YAKHOV BABUSHKIN: SURROUNDED BY HUN-GER, COLD, AND DEATH ELIASBERG MUST CONDUCT SHOSTAKOVICH’S 7TH SYMPHONY WITH HIS SURVIVING ORCHESTRA. AGAINST ALL ODDS HE ACCOMPLISHES THE IMPOSSIBLE: FOR A SHORT MO-MENT THE WAR IS INTERRUPTED BY THE SOUNDS OF THE „LENINGRAD SYMPHONY“ WAFT THROUGH THE CITY ALL THE WAY TO GERMAN TRENCHES. IT IS THE HEROIC STORY OF LENINGRAD’S RADIO CREW AND THE SYMBOLIC TRIUMPH OF ART OVER THE SAVAGERY OF WAR. SEPTEMBER 8TH, 2016 MARKS THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BEGINNING OF THE LENINGRAD BLOCKADE.

FIRST BROADCAST ARD: SPRING 2018

G E B R U E D E R B E E T Z F I L M P R O D U K T I O N

A DOCUDRAMA BY GEBRUEDER BEETZ FILMPRODUCTION HAMBURG1X90MIN HD IN CO-PRODUCTION WITH NDR, SWR, RBBIN CO-OPERATION WITH ARTE, TVN (POLAND), NRK (NORWAY), ČESKÁ TELEVIZE (CZECH REPUBLIC), DR (DENMARK), LTV (LATVIA), LRT (LITHUANIA), BEL DOCS 2015 (SERBIA), TILE FILMS (IRELAND)SUPPORTED BY CREATIVE EUROPE MEDIA, NORDMEDIA

CONTENT

DOCUDRAMALENINGRAD SYMPHONY

SYNOPSIS 03

DIRECTORS CHRISTIAN FREY AND CARSTEN GUTSCHMIDT 05

CREW 06

PRESS RELEASE G E B R U E D E R B E E T Z F I L M P R O D U K T I O N

LENINGRAD SYMPHONYSYNOPSIS

PRESS RELEASE

Leningrad in the winter of 1942: a city of three mil-lion people facing death by starvation. Hitler’s or-ders were simple: besiege Leningrad, supported by bombs and artillery, and exterminate its popu-lation by cutting off its food supplies. The German generals and their troops obeyed. The siege of Le-ningrad lasted a staggering 872 days. The resulting genocide constituted one of the Wehrmacht’s most heinous crimes, as hundreds of thousands of men, women and children died during the siege induced famine.

Almost miraculously, not everyone died. One of the forces that helped to keep the city’s survivors alive was Leningrad’s radio station, broadcasting poetry and live music, even though its members of staff were facing starvation like everyone else in the city. For many ordinary people, the radio’s daily broadcasts became a last lifeline, as they struggled

to maintain their will to live in the face of extreme famine.

It was during the darkest days of the siege, in March 1942, that the emaciated conductor of the city’s ra-dio orchestra, Karl Eliasberg, was given a seemingly impossible assignment: surrounded by extreme hunger, cold and death he was to rehearse Shosta-kovich’s brand new 7th Symphony, one of the most powerful and epic wartime compositions of the 20th century. The symphony would have to be per-formed by the few surviving members of his radio orchestra, some of them too weak to lift their inst-ruments. It was to be broadcast live by Leningrad’s radio station, as a sign that the city refused to die.

Against all odds, Eliasberg and a handful of coura-geous musicians and radio producers would ma-nage the impossible. On August 9th 1942, after

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PRESS RELEASE

months of painful rehearsals and preparation, the war was interrupted by the stirring sounds of the “Leningrad Symphony”, broadcast to the city’s homes and in the streets, and all the way to the Soviet and German trenches. In Russia, the perfor- mance is remembered as a psychological turning point in the war, the moment that Leningrad ma-nifested its unwavering resolve to withstand the forces of Nazism.

Impressive interviews with contemporary witnes-ses, unique archive recordings from the occupied Leningrad and elaborately produced reenacted scenes tell the shocking story of one of the most fa-mous symphonies of the last century.The siege of Leningrad was one of the greatest war crimes of the Second World War and a great propag

anda campaign at the same time: The performance of the Leningrad Symphony is still regarded as a tur-ning point in the war by the Russians.

„Leningrad Symphony“ describes this tragedy as a gripping documentary from the perspective of the besieged and the besieger and shows the cruel everyday life of a city that seems to be devoted to death.

In addition to the interviews with contemporary witnesses such as Olga Kvade and Joachim Buff, (the brother of the soldier), the film is fundamental-ly underpinned by expert interviews with the histo-rian Prof. Dr. Sönke Neitzel and the British journalist and writer Anna Reid („Leningrad: The Epic Victory of World War II, 1941-1944 „).

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PRESS RELEASE

Studied Political Science at the University of Ham-burg. After that he started as an editorial intern and reporter at the NDR. From 1992 to 1997 he workes as an editor at the MDR. Since then he a self-employed author, director and producer. Two times he won the Bayrischer Fernsehprei: 1992 for the documentary „Clara Mosch – oder die schöp-ferische Zersetzung“ and 2001 for his involvement in the ARD-series „Die Vertriebenen“. 2013 he was nominated for the German Television Prize for his participation in the ZDF-series „Weltenbrand“. 2014 he was decorated with the New York Film Festivals‘ World Gold Medal.

FILMOGRAPHY (SAMPLE)

After finishing school, he started with several in-ternships and jobs in the industry such as lighting technician on set of Tom Tykwers „Lola Rennt“. 1996-1998 he worked as the assistent of director Philipp Stölzl („Medicus“, „Goethe“, „Nordwand“) with the DoRo Berlin Filmproduktion.1998 he‘s done his first own film as a director. Sin-ce then he visited many workshops and lectures addressing dramaturgy and directing actors.

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AUTHOR & DIRECTOR

CHRISTIAN FREY

DIRECTOR

CARSTEN GUTSCHMIDT

2016

2015

2012

2012

2011

2011

2010

2009

Mythos Goldzug, ZDF

Wir Geiseln der SS, 2x52 min, ZDF/arte

Weltenbrand – Der SündenfallDokumentation, 45 min, ZDF

Geheimnisse des 2. Weltkrieges: Mythos Alpenfestung Doku-Reihe, 45/52 min, ZDF

Geheimnisse des III. Reiches: Rommel-Mythos und WahrheitDoku-Reihe, 45/52 min, ZDF

ZDF History: Die Macht der MagieDoku-Reihe, 43 min, ZDF

ZDF History: Mielkes MenschenjägerDoku-Reihe, 43 min, ZDF

Stauffenberg – Die wahre Geschichte, Teil 1Zweiteilige Dokumentation, 90 min, ZDF

G E B R U E D E R B E E T Z F I L M P R O D U K T I O N

2015

2012

2012

2011

2010

2009

2009

Wir Geiseln der SS, 2x52 min, ZDF/arte

Weltenbrand 1914Doku-Drama-Serie, 3x43 min, ZDF Szenische Regie

Terra X – Die BernsteinstrasseDoku-Drama, 2x43 min, ZDF/arteSzenische Regie

Terra X – Die Deutsche HanseDoku-Drama, 2x43 min, ZDFSzenische Regie Die Deutschen (2. Staffel)Doku-Drama-Serie, 10x43 Min, ZDFSzenische Regie (drei Episoden)

Terra X – Jäger verlorener Schätze: Cold Case DresdenDoku-Drama, 43 Min, ZDF

Himmel, Hölle, Fegefeuer – Dem Teufel auf der SpurDokumentarfilm, 43 Min, ZDF

PRESS RELEASE

STABLISTECAST

AUTHOR & DIRECTOR

(DOCU)

DIRECTOR

(RE-ENACTMENTS)

DOP

SET DESIGN

COSTUME DESIGN

MAKE UP ARTIST

SOUND EDITOR

FILM EDITOR

VFX/CGI

Christian Frey

Carsten Gutschmidt

Jürgen Rehberg

Marc Riemer

Tom Bresinsky

Michael Kern

Yuri Ermolin

Dennis Duis

Stefanie Jauß

Yvonne Oppermann

Thomas Funk

Marcel Martens

Eike Wichmann

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER

PRODUCTION MANAGER

PRODUCTION ASSISTENT

DRAMATURGY CONSULTANT

COMMISSIONING EDITORS

FUNDING

Reinhardt Beetz, GBF

Paul Wiederhold

Stefan Hoffmann

Lilly Hartmann

Leonie Rüschoff

Rebecca Zaubel

Christian Kaps

Marc Brasse, NDR

Ulrike Dotzer, NDR/arte

Jens Stubenrauch, RBB

Sandra Dujmovic, SWR

Creative Europe MEDIA

Nordmedia Fonds GmbH

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FRITZ FUCHS

WOLFGANG BUFF

KARL ELIASBERG

OLGA KVADE

N. BORONNIKOWA

D. SCHOSTAKOWITSCH

Marcus Brandl

Tino Mewes

Matthias Bundschuh

Mercedes Müller

Anja Antonowicz

Florian Panzner

CREW

EDITORIAL & PRODUCTION TEAM