Funded small cultural projects in Chemnitz: Film music for a short film

Film music for the short film "This long breath, concerning Beate's shop" by Olaf Held

"In the Ore Mountains in the late summer of 1991, a young woman realises that she is somehow not the right person for the strange post-reunification period." This is the description of the content of the short film "This long breath, concerning Beate's shop" by Olaf Held.

In the course of the final phase, post-production, a film score is now to be created for the short film. The Chemnitz Filmwerkstatt is supporting and realising this project.

The musician Jarii van Gohl, who was already responsible for the first two parts of the Hammerthal trilogy, will compose and produce the film music.

Olaf Held found the inspiration for the short film "This long breath concerning Beate's shop" in the short story collection "Winesburg, Ohio" by Sherwood Anderson and through the short story "Wunderlich".

"Both stories unite tragic characters in a crazy time of upheaval. Like the fall of communism in the former GDR, industrialisation at the end of the 19th century awakened hopes and hopeless ideas in many people. These upheavals also had something surreal about them, as the familiar disappeared more and more and the new was not yet comprehensible. For me, both stories also share a mood of diffuse humour and the inexplicable. For this reason, I transposed Sherwood Anderson's story to the Erzgebirge in 1991 and linked his characters with my own experiences. I have adopted the mood of his story and the open dramaturgy, which is told several times in loops and repeatedly revisits the plot at different points. For me, this is a good way of emphasising the strange mood of this turning point rather than following a specific plot. Even today, I feel I am living in a time of upheaval. Climate change calls for new strategies and a reorganisation. For a new "wind of change". The existing world needs to be redefined and, as in 1991 or at the end of the 19th century, we are still in the middle of the process. A clear solution or a clear (film) ending are not foreseeable. Which makes the short film topical despite its historical subject matter," says Olaf Held in his directors' note.

Held was able to recruit people from his immediate environment for the short film project. Among others, Beate Düber, Jan Kummer and their daughters Lotta and Nina will be involved. Lotta and Nina are members of the Chemnitz band Blond. There will also be two cameo appearances by Steffen Thiede from the band Kraftklub and Jana Cernik from AG Kurzfilm.

The final trailer for the short film will be released on YouTube soon.

Jarii van Gohl: jariivangohl.de

The film music for the short film was funded by the City of Chemnitz's small project funding programme.