Forklift Driver Klaus – The First Day on the Job

Forklift Driver Klaus – The First Day on the Job (in German Staplerfahrer Klaus – Der erste Arbeitstag) is a German short film from 2000 about the first day of Klaus' work as a forklift driver. The film is a parody of work safety films from the 1980s.

Forklift Driver Klaus – The First Day on the Job
Konstantin Graudus as Klaus
Directed by
  • Stefan Prehn
  • Jörg Wagner
Produced byMichael Sombetzki
Written by
  • Jörg Wagner
  • Stefan Prehn
Narrated byEgon Hoegen
CinematographyMatthias Lehmann
Edited byAndrea Stabenow
Release date
  • 2000 (2000)
Running time
9 min
CountryGermany
LanguageGerman
Budget€90,000

The film was written and directed by Stefan Prehn and Jörg Wagner. Konstantin Graudus plays the role of Klaus, and Egon Hoegen is the narrator. It adds to the air of authenticity that the narrator's voice is well known from road safety films, such as "Der 7. Sinn".[1]

The film quickly became famous, thanks in part to its splatter film violence, which fans regard as comical due to its extreme and obviously fake nature.[2] The film received several awards and was made available on DVD by Anolis Entertainment in 2003, dubbed in English, French, and Spanish.

Plot

The film is presented as a safety instruction video for forklift truck drivers and shows the first day of work for newly qualified forklift truck driver Klaus. The film highlights, in a gory manner, the dangers of unsafe operation of machinery. As the film progresses the injuries/deaths become more brutal, beginning with things like a man falling from the forklift after he was lifted improperly, and closing with the most violent: ending in a stray chainsaw being driven around by a severed arm on the floor, reaching and ripping through a man who had already been cut in half waist-down due to Klaus' previous accident. A gory POV shot of the chainsaw chopping through the man is shown. The film ends as Klaus is decapitated by the chainsaw and two men are left impaled onto the forklift prongs, screaming. The forklift drives off into the sunset as the impaled men continue to scream with the chainsaw racing after them. The closing musical theme, "Happyland", was written by French composer Laurent Lombard.

Context

Although the film is not officially part of the German training and education system for forklift trucks, it is frequently shown by instructors to lighten the mood.[3]

Awards

The film has won many awards, including:

  • The Canal+ International Award for Best Short Film at the Cinema Jove Festival Internacional de Cine València in 2001
  • The Jury Award for Best Short Film and the Audience Award for Best Short Film at the San Sebastian Horror and Fantasy Film Festival in 2001
  • The Audience Award for Short Film and the Special Prize of the European Broadcasters Jury for Best Original Idea at the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film in 2002
  • The Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Award at the Day of the German Short Film awards in 2002
  • The German Film Critics Award for Best Short Film at the German Film Critics Association Awards in 2002
  • The Jury Prize for Best Short Film at the Fantasia Film Festival in 2003 (where it also won 3rd place in the Best Short Film category)

References
  1. Der 7. Sinn at IMDb
  2. as in the first blood splatter scene in the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPpwLCvPAME&t=290s
  3. "Ausbildung zum Gabelstaplerfahrer". Gesellschaft für berufliche Bildung. Archived from the original on February 18, 2015.
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