The sales rights to “One Last Evening,” a tragicomedy that competed at Locarno’s First Look selection and won the top award, have been acquired by Beta Cinema. “One Last Evening” is the debut feature film from filmmaker Lukas Nathrath. The micro-budget film “One Last Evening” will have its global premiere in the Tiger Competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam before going on to the Max Ophüls Preis Film Festival.
The seven-day filming of “One Last Evening” (originally titled “Letzter Abend”)
Took place almost exclusively in the protagonists’ downtown flat and is set during the epidemic summer’s standstill: A young couple is relocating from Hannover to Berlin in search of a new beginning. Clemens is a gifted but unsuccessful singer-songwriter plagued by self-doubts, and Lisa is a rising doctor preparing for a new job. They throw a dinner party at their now-empty apartment as a farewell. Uninvited guests arrive while excellent friends cancel. The evening intensifies as attendees compare their accomplishments to one another, resulting in an emotional crash that reveals miscommunications, rivalries, animosities, and worries.
In close collaboration with his young actor ensemble, Nathrath further developed the parts in the script he co-wrote with lead actor Sebastian Jakob Doppelbauer. Producer Linus Günther from Klinker film soon joined Nathrath and Doppelbauer after they individually began the production. Nordmedia’s assistance, regional sponsorship, and the Cinegrell First Look Award made postproduction possible.
After spending months alone, Nathrath said, “Our characters yearn for experiences and diversions.
They don’t have material problems, but they worry about being inadequate in a society that values success. They urgently try to appear upbeat and confident but are miserable and alone. Conflicts and awkwardness had a lot of tragicomic potential because of this contrast between facades and emotions.
In 2018, the short “Morale” by Nathrath was invited to the Next Generation Program of German Films at Cannes. His capstone project, “Kippa,” aired at over 50 international film festivals and won the European CIVIS Media Prize and the Studio Hamburg Young Talent Award. Nathrath has performed in many movies and television shows as an actor.
Only sometimes do you encounter a truly “generational” piece of work, according to Beta Cinema’s executive vice president of acquisitions, sales, and marketing Thorsten Ritter? The discomfort, fear, comedy, and poignancy in this portrait of generation Y, as well-observed and accurate as it may be, resonate across generational and other boundaries. In an astonishingly impressive and creative debut, Lukas develops fully-rounded characters with only a few brushes.
Philip Jestädt (“Die Discounter”) handled the photography for “One Last Evening,” and Silke Olthoff (“Rammbock,” “Goliath96,” “Sleep”) handled the editing. The costumes were made by Lucie Bates (“Go for Zucker!,” “Hanna,” “Effie Briest”), and Doppelbauer (“Biohackers,” “The Legend of Wacken”) penned and sang the music heard in the movie.
Pauline Werner (“Tatort”), Susanne Dorothea Schneider, Nikolai Gemel, Isabelle von Stauffenberg, Valentin Richter, Julius Forster, Nils Rovira-Muoz, Amelle Schwerk (“System Crasher”), and Pascal Houdus (“Thirty,” “Les Combattantes”) are other members of the ensemble cast.
The movie will have its international premiere on January 26 in Rotterdam’s Tiger Competition before having its German premiere at Saarbrücken’s Max Ophüls Preis Film Festival on February 1.
German-speaking regions are among the countries where Beta Cinema is in charge of sales.