Nora Fingscheidt’s Systemsprenger (System Crasher) outlines the story of nine-year-old Benni, a problem child whose mother, unable to cope, hands her over to the authorities. But Benni proves resistant to all corrective measures – that is, until social worker Micha decides to risk establishing a personal relationship with the child and in doing so crosses a line.
Germany | 2019 | 120 minutes
directed by Nora Fingscheidt
produced by kineo Filmproduktion & Weydemann Bros. GmbH
inco-production with Oma Inge Film and ZDF / Das kleine Fernsehspiel.
music by John Gürtler in collaboration with John Schröder, Andi Haberl, Schulz&Söhne and many more.
«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
„European Original Score 2019“ by the European Film Academy
Nora Fingscheidt’s debut feature premiered at this year’s 69th Berlinale as part of the official competition
Creative Energy Award (Nora Fingscheidt & Helena Zengel) & DBG Fimpreis des Publikums Internationales Filmfest Emden-Norderney
Golden Lynx FEST – New Directors New Films Festival
Grand Prize & Taiwan Critics Society Award 台北電影節 Taipei Film Festival
Best Feature Film Vukovar Film Festival
Grand Jury Prize & Special Mention Helena Zengel Drugi Sombor Film Fest
Transatlantyk Distribution Award from the audience Transatlantyk Festival