"Junges Licht" is the new feature film by award-winning filmmaker Adolf Winkelmann, which tells the story of innocence, sex and violence in the Ruhr region of the 1960s. The production was presented to the press at MMC Studios on August 11, 2015.
Shooting of the feature film "Junges Licht" ("Young Light"), based on the highly acclaimed Ruhr novel of the same name by Ralf Rothmann, began on July 6 in the Ruhr region. Filming has so far taken place at original locations in Bottrop, Bochum, Marl, Dortmund and, among other places, above and below ground at Sole 4 of the Auguste Victoria colliery.
Now the production has moved to Cologne, where filming will continue at MMC Studios until August 21. Filming will take place on 15 days in the studio in a 50 square meter apartment, built for the Collien family with father Charly Hübner, mother Lina Beckmann and the two children Julian and Sophie.
Director Adolf Winkelmann wants the actors to feel the confinement in which the miners lived in 1961. A challenge to the studio construction, which was realized by MMC Ausstattung.
On August 11, the production was presented to the press at a set date. Present on the set at MMC Studio 35 were Adolf Winkelmann, Charly Hübner, Lina Beckmann, Oscar Brose, producers Michael Smeaton and Christiane Schaefer, and Dr. Barbara Buhl, Head of TV Film and Cinema, WDR.
"Junges Licht" is a film about innocence, sex and violence in the Ruhr region of the 1960s. With laconic humor, it tells of a 12-year-old miner's son's first touches with an adult world that he observes with subtlety but does not understand. Confronted with illness and death, guilt and repentance, erotic temptations and a completely new sense of freedom, the boy lives through a summer in which everything changes - and yet things remain as they are.
The top-class ensemble of the cinema co-production includes, in addition to the above, Peter Lohmeyer, Stephan Kampwirth, Caroline Peters, Nina Petri, Ludger Pistor, Jürgen Schornnagel, etc. The young roles are played by Oscar Brose, Magdalena Matz and Greta Sophie Schmidt, among others.
The screenplay was written by Nils Beckmann, Till Beckmann and Adolf Winkelmann based on the novel of the same name by Ralf Rothmann. David Slama is behind the camera.
The feature film is produced by FFP New Media (Producer: Michael Smeaton, Producer: Greta Gilles) and Winkelmann Filmproduktion (Producer: Christiane Schaefer) in cooperation with WDR (Editors: Götz Bolten, Christoph Pellander) and ARTE (Andreas Schreitmüller), funded by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, the German Federal Government for Culture and Media (BKM), the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), the RAG Foundation and supported by Evonik Industries.
Photo: Press appointment on the set of "Junges Licht" at MMC Studio 35 in Cologne. © MMC Studios / Frank Hempel
