CRISIS IS ALWAYS

CRISIS IS ALWAYS

Fictonal feature flm, Germany 2020, 61 min

Screenplay (with Uta Hörmeyer), directon and montage: Dan Dansen

Crisis is always – Dan Dansen, [email protected] 19.10.2020

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SynopsisScreenplay (with Uta Hörmeyer), directon and montage: Dan Dansen

"Crisis is always" tells the story of a young woman’s politcizaton. In the midst of (ant)feminism, right wing populism and precarity emerges a tender story of

solidarity and friendship between the young protagonist Laura, her best friend Aylin, and Tamara, a non-binary trans person in her mid sixtes.

Laura, in her early 20s, is looking for her place in life. She works as a cleaner in a hotel – precariously employed, in debt, and without any formal training or quali -

fcatons. Laura is in crisis. But there is a glimmer of hope: she wants to move in with Franziska, her partner. Franziska is a member of a new far-right party and

Laura’s interest in politcs is piqued.

Laura is connected to her best friend Aylin, who works in the kitchen of the same hotel, through tender working class solidarity. When Aylin fnds out that Laura’s

girlfriend Franziska is a member of a far-right party, Laura’s one friendship is put at stake. It is only through a chance encounter with the 60-something trans actv -

ist, Tamara, that she is able to gain a new perspectve.

"Crisis is always" creates intmacy with its protagonists through long, observant shots, and dives with Laura into her sound-world. In a dialogue between experi -

mental sound and image, a contemporary portrait of society emerges that pits the solidarity of friendship against neoliberal capitalism.


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Director’s commentary

Dan Dansen

With its focus on cleaning, "Crisis is always" makes visible a form of labour that is otherwise concealed, thereby centring the story of a person who mostly goes un-

notced in our society. It was a politcal decision to begin the flm with long, statc shots in which we see the protagonist at work. Yet, in the images we see, she is

forced to the margins: her labour and the spaces in which it takes place dominate her life. Only when movement comes into Laura’s life does the camera too come

into moton, and only through encounters with other people does Laura fnd herself.

With "Crisis is always" I sketch a portrait of society that examines the efects of economic conditons on the protagonist, Laura: that is, the loss of economic secur -

ity brought about by the increasing intensifcaton of neoliberal capitalism. People are precariously and temporarily employed, the welfare state is a thing of the

past, there is no way out in sight. Democracy is in crisis, and lefist movements fnd it difcult to ofer their own models of society. This gap is closed by right-wing

populist partes that link the systemic queston to naton and racist ideology. This can only be countered with a social model that centres unconditonal solidarity.

With "Crisis is always" I examine the conditons that enable right-wing populist and neo-fascist movements to persist. What would a lef-wing counter-project look

like and how can it be communicated? My aim is to make a utopian moment appear in which a possible queer and solidarity-centred future becomes tangible.

"Crisis is always" takes personal relatonships as the startng point for a tender solidarity that forms the nucleus for a way of life in which people no longer relate to

one another as compettors.


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Cast

Laura

Aylin

Tamara

Franziska

Businessman

Ines

Podcast

Chef

Lea Ostrovskiy

Mariann Yar

Dieter Rita Scholl

Astarte Posch

Christan Hankammer

Esther Hilsemer

Ricky Strohecker

Holger Franke


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Crew

Screenplay

Director

Producton

Director of Photography

Gafer

Set Sound Recordist

Producton Design

Art Directon

Dan Dansen und Uta Hörmeyer

Dan Dansen

Dan Dansen/Bikepunk Productons

Antonia Pepita Giesler

Mathilda Kruschel

Diane Barbé

Johannes Borda Aquino

orlan

Minh Duc Pham

Minh Duc Pham

Nele Faust

Costume

Make Up Artst

Sound Design

Studio Sound Recordist

Sound Mixing

Minh Duc Pham

Johanna Ekenhorst

Felicitas Heck

Christan Obermaier

Jochen Jezzusek


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Crew (contnued)

Assistant Camera

Assistant Producton

Recording Director

Set-Runner

Electrician

Boom Operator

Assistant Costume

Set-Photography

Dramaturgical Advice

Mouna Abo Assali

Sophia Fenn

Philipp Fröhlich

Julia von dem Berge

Samira Fansa

Uta Hörmeyer

Alice Dalgalarrondo

Jana Slomiany

Katharina Lüdin

Caio Soares

Rakel Riviera Plaza

Diane Barbé

Johannes Borda Aquino

Marcus Bauer/orlan

Nele Faust

Sven Gutjahr

Thomas Arslan

Christne Lang

Svenja Viola Bungarten

This flm was produced as a graduaton flm in the study course "Kunst und Medien" at the University of the Arts, Berlin, Germany. Professor Thomas Arslan super-

vised the work in the class "Narratve Film".


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Technical informaton

Original ttle Krise ist immer

English ttle Crisis is always

Year of producton 2020

Length 61 min

Genre fcton flm, drama, experimental, independent, melodrama

Topics LGBTQ*, queer life, solidarity, right-wing populism, precarity, work life, politcs, social critsism

Color Color

Film language German

Subttles English

Shootng format HD

Shootng locaton Berlin, Germany


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Technical Informaton (contnued)

Screening format File (DnxHD185, ProRes 4444, ProRes 422 HQ oder H.264), DCP, BluRay, DVD

Fame rate PAL (25 Bilder/s)

Resoluton 1920x1080 (HD)

Aspect rato 16:9

Sound Dolby Surround 5.1; Stereo digital

Trailer htps://vimeo.com/385979458

Website www.bikepunkproductons.de

htp://bikepunkproductons.de/krise.html

Screener

Screener DVD and password-secured online screener available on request


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Festval Screenings19.10.2020

2020 54th Hof Internatonal Film Festval, Germany

Awards19.10.2020

2020 Nominaton for the New German Cinema Award, 54th Hof Internatonal Film Festval, Germany


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Contact informaton

For any requests, screenings and distributonal questons please get in contact with:

Bikepunk Productons

Dan Dansen

Karl-Kunger-Str. 69

12435 Berlin

Germany

+49 (0)178 5245919

[email protected]

www.bikepunkproductons.de


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Short Biography Dan Dansen

Dan Dansen lives and works as a freelance flmmaker and photographer in Berlin. They studied Cultural Studies and Modern German Literature at the Hum -

boldt-University of Berlin. In 2019 they completed the programme "Arts and Media" at the Berlin University of the Arts with a focus on flm. Dan is a non-binary

trans-person and uses they/them pronouns.

Dan Dansen's artstc work is characterized by an analytcal and emotonal fathoming of contemporary themes. Their approach experiments with diferent styles

and genres in order to fnd the appropriate form for each subject mater. Dan Dansen's aim is to create intmacy, regardless of whether they work with cinema,

performance or photography. They embed this intmacy in social contexts, thus portraying singularity as part of a larger whole. They work on queer issues, gender,

analysis and critque of social conditons, and the queston of how we want to shape our lives. They are actvely exploring how a life of solidarity and community

beyond capitalism is possible.

Although they started out as a documentary flmmaker, Dan Dansen has also developed a strong interest in fctonal subjects. In the last few years they have real -

ized projects that are diverse in form and content: their documentary essay short flm "Princess of Everyday Life" is a cinematc love leter to their partner, with

whom they lived in a gay relatonship as a non-binary queer trans person. By refusing to show the trans narrator the flm rejects heteronormatve conventons that

exotcize trans bodies. "Princess of Everyday Life" has been shown in Germany, France, Italy, England, the USA, Canada, Argentna, South Korea and Japan.

Their recently fnished middle-length movie "More Than Two" is a fctonal queer hybrid between western and love movie. It tells the story of three diverse queers

who dare to carry out a utopian relatonship experiment. "More Than Two" will be screened at the "Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest" in London and at the "Pink

Screens – Brussels Queer Film Festval", amongst others.

Dan Dansen's photographic work "Genderbashing" portraits women, lesbians, trans and non-binary people who train martal arts or self defence. The series has

been nominated for the "Advancement Award 2019" by Art Society Centre Bagatelle and the municipal galleries of Reinickendorf-Berlin, Germany.


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Filmography

2020 More Than Two

Fictonal short flm, 35 min, HD, English with German subttles

Producton, screenplay, montage, director and sound design

World premiere: 11th Queer Film Festval Oldenburg, Germany

2019 Winter Solstce

Experimental short flm/video installaton as loop, 8 min, HD, German with English subttles

Producton, screenplay, camera, montage and director

World premiere: 17th Festval internatonal Signes de Nuit, Paris, France, 2019

2015 Prinzessin des Alltags (Princess of everyday life)

Experimental documentary, German with English/Italian/French/Japanese subttles, 9 min, HD

Screenplay, camera, montage and director

Awards:

2016 11th XPOSED Internatonal Queer Film Festval, Berlin, Germany

Special Menton of the Jury – Short documentary

World premiere: 13th Florence Queer Festval, Florence, Italy, 2015

2014 Sounds Queer

Documentary, German with English or Spanish subttles, 60 min, HD

Concept, screenplay and director

Graduaton flm at Humboldt University Berlin in Cultural Studies. Prof. Dr. Christna von Braun supervised the work.

World premiere: 29th DOK.fest Munich, Germany


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Awards

2019 Nominaton to the Advancement Award 2019, Art Society Centre Bagatelle/municipal galleries of Reinickendorf-Berlin, Germany

Nominaton of the photographic series "Genderbashing"

2016 Princess of Everyday Life

2016 11th XPOSED Internatonal Queer Film Festval, Berlin, Germany

Special Menton of the jury – short documentaries

Jury Statement:

A documentaton of a man at work turns into a touching testament about non-normatve relatonships in Dan Dansen's "Princess of everyday

life". Told through a love leter by the unseen director to his protagonist, this simple flm redefnes the possibilites of being together beyond

a heteronormatve social order.


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CRISIS IS ALWAYS

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