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Sonne und Beton

Sun and Concrete
Berlinale Special Gala 2023
© Constantin Film Verleih
Gropiusstadt is a large housing estate in Berlin’s Neukölln district that is not for the faint-hearted. For residents Lukas, Julius, Gino and Sanchez, a summer that was at first baking hot and tedious soon turns into a nerve-wracking adventure. Filled with social hardship and badass slang, Felix Lobrecht’s much-lauded autobiographical first novel is a monument to the estate and his four protagonists and is told with wit, passion and poetry. David Wnendt, Germany’s go-to director for tricky material (Combat Girls, Wetlands), wrote the script together with the author and has transposed it to the screen in a fast-paced and entertaining work that is full of situational comedy. There is plenty of violence, brutality, and “araba-boxing-sonofabitch-I-swear-I’ll-fuck-up-your-face” because here no one can avoid drugs, gang wars and family fissures, and language is in any case the best way to experiment with posing and transgressing. The boys do not even have enough cash for the swimming pool, their mountain of debt grows, a theft goes wrong, and the fact that one of them almost bites the dust in the process is only realised by the others quite late in the day. Just your average life as a teenager in the suburbs – this, too, is Berlin!
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by David Wnendt (Director, Screenplay), Felix Lobrecht (Screenplay)
with Levy Rico Arcos, Rafael Luis Klein-Heßling, Vincent Wiemer, Aaron Maldonado-Morales, Luvre47, Wael Alkhatib, Lucio101, Jörg Hartmann, Imran Chaaban, Franziska Wulf Germany 2023 German, Italian, Arabic, Mandarin 119' Colour World premiere

With

  • Levy Rico Arcos (Lukas)
  • Rafael Luis Klein-Heßling (Gino)
  • Vincent Wiemer (Julius)
  • Aaron Maldonado-Morales (Sanchez)
  • Luvre47 (Marco)
  • Wael Alkhatib (Djamel)
  • Lucio101 (Cem)
  • Jörg Hartmann (Matthias)
  • Imran Chaaban (Momo)
  • Franziska Wulf (Gaby)

Crew

Director David Wnendt
Screenplay David Wnendt, Felix Lobrecht based on the novel of the same name by Felix Lobrecht
Cinematography Jieun Yi
Editing Andreas Wodraschke
Music Enis Rotthoff, Konstantin „Djorkaeff“ Scherer, Phil The Beat
Sound Design Paul Rischer
Sound Paul Rischer
Production Design Thomas Stammer, Lea Walloschke
Costumes Elke von Sivers
Make-Up Mandy Steiger
Casting Jacqueline Rietz, Ulrike Müller, Kathleen Döbbel
Assistant Directors Michael Gerhardt, Theresa Matkewitz, Martin Stange
Line Producer Katja Lebedjewa
Producers Fabian Gasmia, David Wnendt
Executive Producer Martin Moszkowicz
Co-Producer Christoph Müller
Co-Production Constantin Film Produktion München

Produced by

Seven Elephants

Photos

Press Conference

Red Carpet

David Wnendt

© Peter Hartwig

Born in Gelsenkirchen, Germany in 1977, he grew up in Islamabad, Miami, Brussels, Prague and Meckenheim. He studied at FAMU in Prague and at the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf. In 2011, he graduated with the cinema film Kriegerin which won prizes including Best Screenplay at the German Film Awards and Best Direction – Young Film at the Bavarian Film Awards. His film adaptions of the bestsellers Feuchtgebiete and Er ist wieder da were big hits; his international production The Sunlit Night screened at Sundance in 2019. In 2018, he co-founded the Seven Elephants production company which made Und morgen die ganze Welt. Sonne und Beton is the company’s second feature film.

Filmography

2011 Kriegerin (Combat Girls) 2013 Feuchtgebiete (Wetlands) 2015 Er ist wieder da (Look Who’s Back) 2017 Tatort; TV series, 1 episode 2021 The Sunlit Night 2023 Sonne und Beton (Sun and Concrete)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2023