Official selection
Arras Film Festival 2019, Cleveland International Film Festival 2020, European Film Days 2020
Writer
Christian Alvart, Siegried Kamml
Cast
Felix Kramer, Trystan Puetter, Nora Waldstaetten
Cinematographer
Christian Alvart
Editor
Marc Hofmeister
contact
Global Screen (a brand of Telepool GmbH)
Löwitz, Germany, 1992. Just two years after the reunification of Germany, this remote area by the Szczecin Lagoon and the Polish border is now home to the brutal homicides of a pair of teenage sisters. Placed in charge of the investigation are two out-of-town detectives, Patrick Stein (Trystan Pütter) and Markus Bach (an unforgettable Felix Kramer), teamed up by government officials eager for a quick arrest to prove the new Germany can carry out swift justice. Berlin detective Stein is more refined than former Stasi detective Bach, but the two soon begin to uncover the dark secrets of a lawless backwoods area where a serial killer can run rampant for years before anyone notices...
FREE COUNTRY is a rarity, a remake of Alberto Rodruiguez's outstanding crime drama MARSHLAND (which swept the Goyas, Spain's Oscars, and won an audience award at Fantasia 2015), which used the distinctive and unique political backdrop of its home country, transporting it and making it pertinent to its own country’s modern history. The characters and settings are similar, but director Christian Alvart and his co-writer Siegfried Kamml have very successfully made it unique to the territory and the time it’s set in, both showcasing this crime story as a fascinating backdrop of post-fascist societies. FREE COUNTRY also delivers ample excitement as a thriller with a conscience, as exciting to watch as its predecessor. Don't miss it. – Matthew Kiernan
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