Cate Shortland’s Lore begins in Germany
Director Cate Shortland (Somersault) has begun shooting new feature film Lore in Germany.
A co-production with Germany and with UK participation that stars Saskia-Sophie Rosendahl and Ursina Lardi (The White Ribbon), it is produced by Liz Watts (Animal Kingdom, The Home Song Stories) British producer Paul Welsh (Skeletons) and German producers Karsten Stoter and Benny Drechsel (A Mysterious World, Jaffa).
Based on Rachel Seiffert’s Booker-nominee novel The Dark Room, Shortland adapted if for the screen with British writer Robin Mukherjee.
Lore is set in the spring of 1945 as the German front collapses and the Allied forces take control over Hitler’s country. With her Nazi parents imprisoned, 16-year-old Lore is left in charge of her four young siblings. Embarking on a journey across the devastated country, the children struggle to survive. And Lore has to learn to trust a person whom she had always been told was the enemy.
In a statement, producer Liz Watts said: “It is an amazing experience to be over here in Germany, with Cate, and seeing the first beautiful rushes from this film. We have drawn together a wonderfully talented international cast and crew to bring this powerful story to the screen. It’s a story that captivated me from the moment I read it several years ago and to see it being realised on film is a great thrill.”
The film will be distributed by Transmission Films. Andrew Mackie of Transmission said, “Lore is an incredibly cinematic and emotionally powerful story. Cate Shortland showed the world with her first feature that she is a director with a strong and distinctive vision and we firmly believe that Cate and the producers of Lore will deliver a film that will enthral audiences here in Australia and around the world.”
Lore is being produced with the financial assistance of Screen Australia, Creative Scotland, Screen NSW, and German funds through MDM, HessenInvest Film, FFA, FFHSH, MFG and DFFF. Transmission Films is domestic distributor (Australia and NZ). International sales agent is Memento Films.
