Summer in Schattin, Northwest Germany. Five houses, a bus stop, cows and nothing but fields all around. Christin (24) has just moved to the farm of her longtime boyfriend Jan (25). But all she really wants to do is get away. Where and what, she doesn’t really know. Based on the award-winning novel „Niemand ist bei den Kälbern“ by Alina Herbing.
Germany | 2021
directed by Sabrina Sarabi
produced by Weydemann Bros. GmbH
«The music in SYSTEM CRASHER is modern, virtuosic, impulsive and surprising. John Gürtler has transformed the unspeakable into music. Where words are no longer possible, his film music manages to function as a non-verbal language, reflecting the inside of the protagonist and carrying the viewer along with it.» Jurybegründung der European Film Academy»
«’System Crasher‘ marks my fourth collaboration with Nora. Just as for her previous projects, we discussed the score in an early stage and I wrote and produced all music prior to shooting or at the start of the editing process. We worked hard on developing a specific sound for a couple of key moments in the film such as the café scene, the car scene, where we witness how the relationship between Benni and Micha further develops, or the moment when Benni escapes: those needed a quite different musical approach – from a tender whistle theme, to rather energetic electronic tracks to more experimental saxophone improvisations. All of these different ideas and mini worlds – from fast-paced electronica to explosive free jazz drums, children’s music, EDM pop and even free spirited kraut rock – come together for brief moments in a number of cues. As those different ideas and sounds reappear, we keep the score from falling apart. Having known Nora for close to ten years, meant the scoring process was pretty intimate where almost all musical decisions were made between us and the editor Stephan Bechinger. Nora and Stephan were working on increasing the pace of the movie and I encouraged them to abruptly end the scenes with music by just cutting them off hard. That way you got propelled into the next scene and have little time to reflect – together with the sound design it gives the whole viewing process quite a physical feel.» – John Gürtler in a recent interview.
AWARDS
German Film Awards 2022 – Lola in Gold for Best Sound
Filmfest Hamburg 2021 – Producer’s Award (Nominated)
Locarno Film Festival 2021 – Concorso Cineasti del presente (Nominated)