Marija
Michael Koch
Marija, a young Ukrainian woman, cleans hotel rooms in Dortmund (Germany) but dreams of owning her own hair salon. Determined to achieve that goal, she is willing to compromise her body, her social relationships and even her own feelings in the process.
With : Margarita Breitkreiz, Georg Freidrich, Olga Dinnikova, Sahin Eryilmaz
Screenplay : Michael Koch, Juliane Grossheim
Image : Bernhard Keller
Sound : Tobias Koch, Maurizius Staerkle Drux, Jean-Pierre Gerth
Editing : Florian Riegel
Screenplay : Michael Koch, Juliane Grossheim
Image : Bernhard Keller
Sound : Tobias Koch, Maurizius Staerkle Drux, Jean-Pierre Gerth
Editing : Florian Riegel
Production : Pandora Films, Hugofilm (co-production), Little Shark Entertainment (co-production)
International sales: Luxbox, 81 rue de Rochechouard, 75009 Paris, France // Anne-Sophie Trintignac // +33 7 63 42 26 12 // festivals@luxboxfilms.com
International sales: Luxbox, 81 rue de Rochechouard, 75009 Paris, France // Anne-Sophie Trintignac // +33 7 63 42 26 12 // festivals@luxboxfilms.com
Michael Koch was born in Lucerne in 1982. From 2003 to 2008 he studied at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, while working in parallel as an actor. During his studies he made the short films We Are the Faithful (2005), Beckenrand (2006) and Polar (2009). All three films were acclaimed in international festivals and received many awards. Polar won a Special Mention at the 2009 Berlinale and won the German Camera Award and the German Short Film Award in 2009. After his studies, he also worked as a set director for the Theater Kaserne in Basel. Marija is his debut feature film.
“In 2010 I was in Ukraine for a longer period of time and met a lot of people, mostly young people, who wanted to leave the country at all cost. Their determination to find a way out of a life without perspective was striking. Through a friend in Kiev I heard about a young woman who came to Germany from Odessa. She worked in
Dortmund as a cleaner, but wanted to open her own nail salon as soon as possible. The urgency with which the young woman fought for her independence and the pride with which she responded to setbacks really impressed me and made me want to examine the subject more closely.”
“In 2010 I was in Ukraine for a longer period of time and met a lot of people, mostly young people, who wanted to leave the country at all cost. Their determination to find a way out of a life without perspective was striking. Through a friend in Kiev I heard about a young woman who came to Germany from Odessa. She worked in
Dortmund as a cleaner, but wanted to open her own nail salon as soon as possible. The urgency with which the young woman fought for her independence and the pride with which she responded to setbacks really impressed me and made me want to examine the subject more closely.”