NEWS
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1. L’abbaye de Neumünster retrouve, le temps du tournage, sa fonction de prison.
5. Le tournage de Eng nei Zäit a duré 39 jours.
Neumünster abbey was transformed into a prison once again during the shoot.
The shoot for Eng nei Zäit lasted 39 days.
2. Patrick Blocman (repérages) et André Fonsny (décors).
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Patrick Blocman (locations) and André Fonsny (set design).
7. Le fond vert permet d’incruster d’autres images. A green screen allows other images to be added.
3. et 6. La corniche sert aussi de décor au film. The corniche served as a natural set for the film. 4. Claude Kongs (Nako FX). Claude Kongs (Nako FX).
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ng nei Zäit is based on an event which made the news in Luxembourg in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War: the murder of five people, including three Germans, at a farm near Ettelbruck. Christophe Wagner, the director, and Viviane Thill, the scriptwriter, have come up with a story that delves into issues that are rarely evoked and were never truly cleared up, involving the resistance and collaboration. The film follows Jules (Luc Schiltz) who comes home after fighting in the French resistance. He tries to rebuild his life in a country ravaged by the war and eventually leads the investigation into the quintuple murder as a police officer. The film, which was produced by Samsa Film, was shot last year, mostly in Luxembourg. neimënster, corniche, rue de la Congrégation, Sang a Klang venue are all recognisable… with the exception of a few important details. “Even in the best preserved locations, there are some recent additions that require alterations and tricks in order to make the location look as it did in 1945” says André Fonsny, who was in charge of set design. With his team, he set out to transform, cover up and alter the filming locations in order to make them match the way they looked at the time “as closely as possible”. André Fonsny worked from photographs and archive documents to recreate the past appearances of the chosen locations, and drew the sets before having them made up in the workshop: fake wood, fake marble, ageing effects, sculptures… He appealed to collectors, museums and antiquarians to find period accessories. In the meantime, the team of Nako FX, specialising in special effects, was looking into transforming the locations virtually. “For both the
director and the actors, it is far more satisfactory to play and film in the final setting. But this is not always possible, so we come in at the postproduction stage” says Claude Kongs, the managing director of Nako FX. For the sequences shot at neimënster, which was a prison at the time, the set designers were called in to change the ground (by covering it with gravel and clay), to work on the materials (the door) or to remake some of the sets outright, such as the prison cell, which was entirely rebuilt in the studio. The use of a neutral green screen provided an easy means of filming the actors prior to incorporating digital images created based on photographs. In postproduction, they also had to erase lamp posts and other modern-day elements, add bars to the windows, soil and age the walls, etc. Similarly, for the views from the corniche or in rue de la Congrégation, the set design team added historical elements (a sentry post for instance) and the special effects team erased and reworked modern-day elements (façades and roofs, cranes, spotlights, etc.). At the end of the day, both teams worked hard in their own way to create an imperceptible illusion: “The best work in our line of business is that which goes unnoticed”. An exhibition is being staged in neimënster in parallel with the release of the film, showing what happened behind the scenes during the production of this historic thriller: photographs, drawings, archives, real sets and objects created specifically for the filming. A symposium which “casts a new look” at Luxembourg in the 1940s will also be held at the CNA on 23 and 24 October.
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Photo : Sven Becker
CHRISTOPHE WAGNER’S FILM ENG NEI ZÄIT IS DUE OUT IN CINEMAS IN LUXEMBOURG ON 14 OCTOBER. THE PLOT TAKES PLACE IN 1945, AND THE FILM WAS PARTLY SHOT IN LUXEMBOURG… 70 YEARS LATER. HOW DID THE MAGIC OF FILM-MAKING TRANSFORM A NUMBER OF LOCATIONS IN THE CAPITAL WHILE REMAINING TRUE TO HISTORY?
FESTIVALS
LUXEMBOURG, VILLE DU CINÉMA
LUXEMBOURG, FILM CAPITAL -
La capitale ne sert pas seulement de décor à plusieurs films, elle accueille et propose également plusieurs festivals autour de thématiques ou de régions. La Cinémathèque et les salles privées sont actives pour accueillir ces programmations originales. The capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is not only the setting for many films, it also hosts several thematic or regional film festivals. The Cinémathèque and the city’s private cinemas actively welcome these events. British & Irish Season jusqu’au 2 octobre / until 2 October CinEast du 8 au 25 octobre / from 8 to 25 October Festival du film brésilien du 12 au 20 novembre / 12 to 20 November Luxembourg City Film Festival du 26 février au 8 mars / 26 February to 8 March Nordic Film Festival en juin / in June Festival du film espagnol en juin / in June City Open Air Cinema with Orange en été / in summer
HERMANN’S CITY MAGAZINE LUXEMBOURG
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