German Newsletter
ARRI Film & TV Newsletter 04/2011

Esteemed clients, dear friends of ARRI,

Enclosed, please find the most recent edition of the ARRI Film & TV newsletter, this time on the occasion of the theatrical release of The Green Wave, an impressive and - in light of the most recent events in Iran and other Islamic countries - almost shockingly timely documentary from director Ali Samadi Ahadi.

The film is a plea for democracy and the courage to voice one's convictions. The Green Wave screened in competition at the 23. International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam and was the only German film invited to the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

Enjoy the read!

All the best,

Angela Reedwisch and Walter Brus

Opening in German theaters on February 24, 2011: The Green Wave

Director: Ali Samadi Ahadi Screenplay: Ali Samadi Ahadi DoP: Peter Jeschke, Ali Samadi Ahadi Production Company: Dreamer Joint Venture Filmproduction Editor: Barbara Toennieshen & Andreas Menn German Distributor: Camino Filmverleih   DI Producer: Markus Klaff DI Grading: Manfred Turek   ARRI Services: Digital Intermediate, TV-Mastering (HD), DCP Mastering

After his award winning documentary Lost Children and the comedy Salami Aleikum, Ali Samadi Ahadi directed The Green Wave, which chronicles the dramatic events leading up to and following the 2009 presidential election in Iran. A unique narrative tool was chosen because the available archival footage was incomplete and of poor quality. This technique, called 'motion comic', was used to illustrate blog entries that accompany the recreated scenes (DoP Peter Jeschke and Ali Samadi Ahadi). Alireza Darvish drew the characters, which Sina Mostafawy and his team then animated. Andreas Menn and Barbara Toennieshen assembled the collages, consisting of archival footage, recreated interviews, cell phone photos and the animated footage. The documentary was produced by Jan Krüger and Oliver Stoltz (Dreamer Joint Venture) and will be released theatrically in Germany by Camino Filmverleih.

Production company Dreamer Joint Venture relied on ARRI Film & TV for the Digital Intermediate, HD Mastering and the Digital Cinema Package. In close collaboration with director Ali Samadi Ahadi the footage, available on a wide range of formats and in various resolutions, was graded for theatrical distribution by colorist Manfred Turek. The scale of entire sequences was increased and sometimes textures were inserted before the takes were combined with the animated scenes.

Archival material from various sources and recreated interviews were combined with animated scenes. © Dreamer Joint Venture Filmproduction

Green is the color of hope. Green is the color of Islam. And Green was the symbol of recognition among the supporters of presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who became the symbolic figure of the Green Revolution in Iran last year. The presidential elections on June 12th, 2009 were supposed to bring about a change, but contrary to all expectations the ultra-conservative populist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was confirmed in office. As clear as was the result, as loud and justified were the accusations of vote-rigging. The on-going Where is my vote? protest demonstrations were again and again worn down and broken up with brutal attacks by government militia. Images taken from private persons with their cell phones or cameras bear witness to this excessive violence: people were beaten, stabbed, shot dead, arrested, kidnapped, some of them disappearing without trace. What remains is the countless number of dead or injured people and victims of torture, and another deep wound in the hearts of the Iranians.

The Green Wave is a touching documentary-collage illustrating the dramatic events and telling about the feelings of the people behind this revolution. Facebook reports, Twitter messages and videos posted in the internet were included in the film composition, and hundreds of real blog entries served as reference for the experiences and thoughts of two young students, whose story is running through the film as the main thread. The film describes their initial hope and curiosity, their desperate fear, and the courage to yet continue to fight. These fictional 'storylines' have been animated as a motion comic - sort of a moving comic - framing the deeply affecting pictures of the revolution and the interviews with prominent human rights campaigners and exiled Iranians. Ali Samadi Ahadi's documentary is a highly contemporary chronicle of the Green Revolution and a memorial for all of those who believed in more freedom and lost their lives for it.