And Along Come Tourists

And Along Come Tourists is a 2007 German dramatic film that was written and directed by Robert Thalheim. The principal characters are a young German doing civilian service at the former German Auschwitz concentration camp and an elderly camp survivor living there. Thalheim himself did his civilian service (Zivildienst) at the International Youth Meeting Center in Oświęcim/Auschwitz in 1996–1997, and portions of the film were shot at the Center and in the nearby town of Oświęcim, Poland. Filming was not permitted at the site of the concentration camp itself, where more than one million persons had been murdered by the end of the Second World War in 1945.

And Along Come Tourists
English-language poster
Original titleAm Ende kommen Touristen
Directed byRobert Thalheim
Produced byBritta Knöller
Hans-Christian Schmid
Screenplay byRobert Thalheim
Story byBernd Lange
Hans-Christian Schmid
Starring
Music by
  • Anton K. Feist
  • Uwe Bossenz
CinematographyYoliswa Gärtig
Edited byStefan Kobe
Release date
  • 16 August 2007 (2007-08-16)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryGermany
LanguageGerman

The film's title in German, Am Ende kommen Touristen, is taken from a volume of poetry published by Björn Kuhligk in 2000.

The principal performers are Alexander Fehling as Sven Lehnert and Ryszard Ronczewski as the survivor Stanislaw Krzemiński. Barbara Wysocka plays Ania Łanuszewskaa, a young Polish woman from Oświęcim with whom Sven develops a romantic relationship.

The film premièred on 16 August 2007 in Germany; its North American première was on 12 September 2007 at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2010 and 2011 the film was broadcast on German television.[1]

In 2007 Bonnie J. Gordon wrote of the film that it is "a quiet triumph ... economically blends modern life's truths, such as the fragility of 20-something love affairs, with universal themes, such as the search for meaning and the human need to expiate guilt."[2] Jürgen Fauth wrote "Without ever resorting to preachiness, Thalheim, who was a Zivi at Auschwitz himself, offers incisive insights into the thorny contradictions and treacherous cross-currents of guilt and memory that turn any kind of exploration of the overbearing past into a minefield."[3]

The film was nominated for the German Film Award for Best Feature Film (the "Lola"). Alexander Fehling received the Förderpreis Neues Deutsches Kino (Advancement Prize for New German Cinema) for his performance as Sven. A version of the film was broadcast on German television in 2010 and 2011, for which Robert Thalheim won the Eberhard-Fechner Award.[1]

A DVD version of the film was released in Europe in 2008.[4] A region 1 DVD (for North America) has not been released.

References
  1. "Grimme-Preis 2011 für ZDF-Produktion 'Klimawechsel'; 'Am Ende kommen Touristen' erhält Eberhard-Fechner-Förderstipendium" [Grimme Prize for 2011 goes to the ZDF-production 'Climate Change'; 'And Along Come Tourists' receives the Eberhard-Fechner Award] (in German). ZDF. 16 March 2011. The Eberhard Fechner Award is a special award given annually in conjunction with the Grimme Prize for German television productions.
  2. Gordon, Bonnie J. (25 October 2007). "And Along Come Tourists". The Hollywood Reporter. Associated Press.
  3. Fauth, Jürgen. "And Along Come Tourists: Encounters with the Past in Present-Day Auschwitz". about.com. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014.
  4. Am Ende kommen Touristen (Region 2 DVD) (in German). Warner Home Video. 2008. OCLC 635949750. 82 minutes. Subtitles in German only.

Further reading
  • Gansera, Rainer (17 May 2010). "Zur Disco am Lagerzaun vorbei" [To the disco just past the camp fence]. Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Joint interview of Thalheim, Hans-Christian Schmid, and Britta Knöller about the film.
  • Emonds, Frederike B. (2011). "Revisiting the Memory Industry: Robert Thalheim's 'Am Ende kommen Touristen'". Colloquia Germanica. 44: 55–78. JSTOR 43551553. This academic article discusses the film in the larger context of Holocaust remembrance and memorials in the 21st century, and contains citations to several related articles.


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