presents THE DAY I WAS NOT BORN by Florian Cossen

presents THE DAY I WAS NOT BORN by Florian Cossen

A teamworx production in co-production with BR and SWR, in cooperation with the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg, funded by the MFG film subsidy Baden- Wuerttemberg. CREW DIRECTOR: SCREENPLAY: PRODUCERS: CAMERA: Florian Cossen Elena von Saucken, Florian Cossen Fabian Maubach / Jochen Laube Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg teamworx Television & Film GmbH Matthias Fleischer CAST MARIA ANTON ALEJANDRO ESTELA JORGE Jessica Schwarz Michael Gwisdek Rafael Ferro Beatriz Spelzini Carolos Portaluppi TECHNICAL DETAILS ORIGINAL TITLE: Das Lied in mir LENGTH: 94 min 45sec FORMAT: 35mm cinemascope WORLD SALES Beta Cinema Dirk Schuerhoff/Andreas Rothbauer Gruenwalder Weg 28d 82041 Oberhaching, Germany Tel +49 (0) 89 673 469 80 Fax +49 (0) 89 673 469 888 Beta@betacinema.com INTERNATIONAL PRESS Beta Cinema Dorothee Stoewahse Tel: + 49 89 67 34 69 15 press@betafilm.com 2

THE JOURNEY During a stopover on her way to Chile, 31-year-old Maria (Jessica Schwarz) recognises a nursery rhyme in Buenos Aires. Maria doesn t speak a word of Spanish, but without understanding what she is singing she remembers the Spanish lyrics. Disturbed and thrown off course, she breaks her journey and wanders through the unfamiliar city. On the phone to Germany she tells her father, Anton (Michael Gwisdek), about her experience and the peculiar fascination the unfamiliar city has on her. Two days later, Anton suddenly turns up at Maria s hotel with something to confess; Maria spent the first three years of her life in Buenos Aires during the military dictatorship at the end of the seventies, until the people she had always thought were her parents adopted her and brought her to Germany. Father and daughter begin a journey together in search of Maria s biological parents. Anton does everything he can to not lose his daughter. THE DAY I WAS NOT BORN (DAS LIED IN MIR) is a teamworx production in co-production with the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg, BR and SWR, funded by the MFG film subsidy Baden-Wuerttemberg. It was directed by Florian Cossen, and the screenplay was written by Elena von Saucken. THE CITY Buenos Aires - another protagonist Each story has its own place. The city as a contrast between what was and what is. Together with the memory of our main character, bridges rise up from nowhere to bring together the two continents, past and present. Buenos Aires as a grande dame, whose festive evening dress was torn up by the economic crisis in 2001. The years of dictatorship under the junta from 1976 to 1983 had already made the material quite porous. But the proud metropolis hasn t put away her robe until today. The powerful capital of Argentina feels like a European harbour on the South American mainland. A place where time stands still. Its districts mix past and present and live with each other. Most of the time peacefully. As long as the old stories remain where they are. It is an island of beaches. In the 20th century, the Spaniards, the Italians, the Syrians, the Jews, and also the German threw their anchors in the cloudy water of the R o de la Plata. They gave their names to the cities they founded: Vagliati, Lopez, Rosenbaum, Schneider, Stejilevich. During the last years, boats carrying South American immigrants have joined them. Today, people still sing about the new home in the foreign country and the unsatisfied longings. In our story, Buenos Aires will become a magical companion for the main character. An ally and an enemy. Just like a whirlpool, the city will suck the young woman from her past and spit her out again in her new present. FLORIAN COSSEN director Florian Cossen was born on 03.01.1979 in Tel Aviv and grew up in Israel, Canada, Spain, Costa Rica and Germany. He worked as a first assistant director on advertising, television and feature film productions, before studying film directing at the Baden-Wuerttemberg Film Academy from 2002-2009. During that time he made several short films, amongst others WOLFSNACHT (WOLF S NIGHT) in co-production with the broadcast channel Bayerischer Rundfunk and L OUBLI, shot in Montréal, co-directed by French-Canadian director Antonin Monmart and premiered at the Montréal World Film Festival 2006. Supported by the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, he was a visiting student at the Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires during six month in 2006 and was awarded a scholarship that enabled him to participate in a film production master class at the University of California in Los 3

Angeles (2005). His first feature film DAS LIED IN MIR (THE DAY I WAS NOT BORN) starring Jessica Schwarz and Michael Gwisdek was almost completely shot in Buenos Aires and is based on the research he carried out there. The film marks as well his graduation film at Baden-Wuerttemberg Film Academy. MARIA Jessica Schwarz Romy 2009 Director: Torsten C. Fischer Buddenbrooks 2007 Director: Heinrich Breloer Why Men Don t Listen and Women Can t Read Maps 2007 Director: Leander Haußmann Nothing but Ghosts 2006 Director: Martin Gypkens Ich wollte nicht töten (TV) 2006 Director: Dagmar Hirtz Impossibly Yours 2006 Torsten C. Fischer Perfume The Story of a Muderer 2005 Director: Tom Tykwer The Red Cockatoo 2004 Director: Dominik Graf Off Beat 2004 Director: Hendrik Hölzlmann 4

Play it Loud! 2003 Director: Benjamin Quabeck No Regrets 2001 Director: Benjamin Quabeck ANTON Michael Gwisdek Kaifeck Murder 2009 Director: Esther Gronenborn Hilde 2008 Director: Kai Wessel The Baader Meinhof-Complex 2008 Director: Uli Edel The Miracle of Berlin (TV) 2007 Director: Roland Suso Richter German TV award 2008 as Best Supporting Actor Pornorama 2006 Director: Marc Rothemund Elementar Particles 2006 Director: Oskar Roehler 5

Goodbye Lenin 2001 Director: Wolfgang Becker No Place to Go 1999 Director: Oskar Roehler Night Shapes 1998 Director: Andreas Dresen ALEJANDRO Rafael Ferro Berlin Buenos Aires 2008 Director: Alejandro Cardenas The Aerial 2007 Director: Esteban Sapir The Good Destiny 2005 Director: Leonor Benedetto Night Watch 2005 Director: Edgardo Cosarinsky Laura s Secret 2004 Director: Gabriel de Cianco Bolivia 2001 Director: Adrián Caetano 6

ABOUT BETA CINEMA (world sales) Beta Cinema is the theatrical division of Beta Film. Launched in 2001, Beta Cinema has established itself as a "boutique operation" for independent feature films with strong potential for theatrical distribution. Beta Cinema's philosophy is to limit its selective acquisition policy of 10 to 15 titles per year in order to fully develop the theatrical potential of each title according to its individual character. Beta Cinema s portfolio includes outstanding productions like JOHN RABE, which won four German Film Awards 2009, Cannes 2008 Jury Prize-winning IL DIVO, Academy Award 2008- winning THE COUNTERFEITERS, Academy Award 2008 nominated MONGOL, Academy Award 2007-winning THE LIVES OF OTHERS and the Academy Award 2005-nominated DOWNFALL. Beta Cinema will continue to pick the most promising German films as well as to offer its service and expertise to other European producers looking for individual handling of their productions. Beta Cinema's strength lies in its focus on a carefully selected line-up and development of individual sales strategies with the perfect mix of marketing and festival platforms. Beta Cinema is the best address for established and up-and-coming independent producers and directors looking for individual international handling of their projects. 7