"THE ART OF SILENCE": Premiere in Cologne with director & live performance
What an evening! On 4 May 2022, the poetic documentary film "The Art of Silence" celebrated its barrier-free German premiere at the Odeon Kino in Cologne. Present for the subsequent film discussion were Cologne-born director Maurizius Staerkle Drux and producer Carl-Ludwig Rettinger (Lichtblick Film) as well as cinematographer Raphael Beinder. Another special guest was protagonist Christoph Staerkle, father of the director and well-known deaf mime! Alongside presenter Sonja Hofmann, an interpreter translated the talks into German sign language.
A highlight of the evening was the live performance by Christoph Staerkle. To the surprise of the audience, he caused hearty laughter in the cinema with his improvised pantomime show. In the Q&A that followed, things got personal. Director Maurizius Staerkle Drux told how he grew up with the arts of silence through his deaf father and how Marcel Marceau was a formative figure in his childhood. Staerkle Drux then thanked the Cologne production company Lichtblick Film and revealed that the first impulse for "The Art of Silence" came from producer Carl-Ludwig Rettinger. Finally, the director spoke about his longstanding relationship of trust with the Marceau family, who are unusually open in his film. His secret: "They could just be who they are in front of the camera, I didn't dictate anything!"
"The Art of Silence" opens in cinemas nationwide on May 5th.