Zugvögel - Einmal nach Inari
Germany
Synopsis
Hannes, a shy beer delivery man, is a railroad timetable fanatic in his spare time. He sets off on a fateful journey to Inari, a small town in the north of Finland near the Arctic Circle, to take part in the 1st International Competition of Railway Timetable Experts. He has no idea that the police are after him for a murder it appears he has unknowingly committed at his delivery company. Inspector Fanck, an obsessed police detective, is hot on his heels. In the course of his train trip, Hannes gets tangled up with a ring of counterfeiters and falls for one of them, Sirpa, whose first love is roses. The showdown comes in Inari.
Peter Lichtefeld's directing debut is a tender love story and a laconic comedy as well as a poetic (rail) road movie.
Peter Lichtefeld's directing debut is a tender love story and a laconic comedy as well as a poetic (rail) road movie.
Director's Statement
Why Finland? I never even thought about it. I had visited Finland several times, once as a tourist and once as a jounalist covering the film festival in Sodankylä. That was like a party in my heart. So when I was writing my first feature film script that was a given: the main character just had to go north, the story had to end in the far north of Finnish Lappland.
Hannes, the protagonist, is a daydreamer — but obsessed by his passion, to find out what he really wants out of life he has to go on a long train ride through vast, uninhabited landscape. To find love he has to travel to a small windy village at the end of the world.
Hannes, the protagonist, is a daydreamer — but obsessed by his passion, to find out what he really wants out of life he has to go on a long train ride through vast, uninhabited landscape. To find love he has to travel to a small windy village at the end of the world.
Cast & Crew
Directed by: Peter Lichtefeld
Written by: Peter Lichtefeld
Cinematography: Frank Griebe
Production Design: Anke Osterloh
Costume Design: Beatrix Albl
Cast: Joachim Król (Hannes), Outi Mäenpää (Sirpa), Peter Lohmeyer (Inspector Fanck)
Nominations and Awards
- Feature Film Selection 1998