the walk - press information

SHORT SYNOPSIS
Two child-hood friends meet on a deserted morning. After 50 years apart, one is called upon by the other. Their meeting becomes an overthrowing reunion, where the present is intertwined with the past; where truths are reconsidered and memories analysed. And ultimately, it becomes an unravelling of their childhood sins...

THE DIRECTOR’S COMMENT
As a director of fiction you are by definition a spineless coward. In theory, and with the reinforcement of the freedom that digital filmmaking brings with it, you have unlimited chances of getting a certain footage, a specific emotion or the right kind of light. The actor, much at his or her annoyance, has one attempt after the other to render the scene. Thus I wanted to leave behind the security that the untruth of fiction consists of. Two outstanding actors. No written script, only character descriptions. A single take, at an exterior location. No cuts. A 2 km walk. A total of 62 minutes of mini-dv tape. At the moment of liberation we achieve excellence.

THE METHOD
”The Walk” was created not from a screenplay, but from a basic story, character descriptions and examples of dialogue. Director Csaba Bene Perlenberg also gave the actors, Anders Granström and Lars-Erik Berenett, a dramatic curve for their one-hour walk. How the story was to be told was up to the actors to improvise.

In his strive for complete focus, director Perlenberg also decided to use a unique visual concept. Thus the film was shot in a single hour-long take. This meant laying extreme pressure on the actors as well as the crew.

A minimal team consisting of the director, a steadi-cam operator and a sound recordist followed the actors on their walk through the forest. Being in character, improvising in front of the camera for one hour straight completely drained the actors. Another take would not have been possible. Luckily it was not needed.

ABOUT DIRECTOR CSABA BENE PERLENBERG
Attends the PCFE Film School in Prague. Has previously studied screenwriting at New York Film Academy and Brobygrafiska Folkhögskolan, Sunne. Freelances as an editorial columnist at the Swedish tabloid ”Kvällsposten”. Works for The European Cultural Foundation in Amsterdam on TheOneMinutesJr.org. Also runs a Swedish blog ”Minnesrötter” focusing on the art of film, http://perlenberg.blogspot.com/.

DIRECTORS PREVIOUS WORK
2006 ”Golem”, short-film, writer, director ( 5 minutes)
2006 “Väsenpumpen” (”The Walk”), short feature, writer, director ( 60 minutes)
2006 “Bloos”, documentary feature, writer, director ( 71 minutes)
2006 “Alexanders afton”, short feature, writer, director ( 40 minutes)
2005 “Narrativitae”, short-film, writer, director ( 45 minutes)
2005 “Bridged”, short-film, writer, director ( 5 minutes)
2005 “Crisp”, short-film, writer, director ( 6 minutes)
2005 “Eko”, short-film, writer, director ( 7 minutes)
2004 “3d”, short-film, writer, director ( 1 minutes)
2004 “Cecilia”, short-film, writer, director ( 5 minutes)
2004 “The language of silence”, short-film, writer, director ( 15 minutes)
2003 "Änglafall", TV-series, writer, director ( 3 episodes á 45 minutes)

ABOUT ACTOR ANDERS GRANSTRÖM
One of Sweden’s most known and appreciated storytellers. Since the beginning of the 80’s Granström has been involved in ”ursprungsteater” (Theatre of origin), as a storyteller that is. He is also an experienced actor in both theatre, film and television. He has starred in films such as "Sven Klangs Kvintett" (1976) by Stellan Olsson, "Den enfaldige mördaren" (1982) by Hans Alfredsson, "Goda människor" (1990) av Stefan Jarl. "Prins Hatt under jorden" (1980) och "Den enes bröd den andres död" (1980). In TV-productions, he has acted in "Studiorektorns sista strid", "Macklean"," Sjätte dagen" (1999) and "Den femte kvinnan".

ABOUT ACTOR LARS-ERIK BERENETT
One of Sweden’s most renowned and foremost actors. Berenett is known in all of Sweden for his portrait of author Olov Svedelid’s character police inspector Roland Hassel, in ten films for television between 1986-1992 and one feature film for cinema, "Hassel - Förgörarna" (2000). In the past years he has starred in SVT’s "Kommissionen", Lisa Ohlin’s "Kvalster" (2005), and the Danish film "Ulvepigen Tinke" (2002). Recently he acted together with Swedish actor Sven Wollter in Van Weeteren’s "Borkmans punkt" as well as delivering a memorable performance in Lars Lennart Forsbergs "Störst av allt" (2005). Berenett is also an experienced actor for theatre and has lately been working at Helsingborg’s municipal theatre.

SPECIFICATIONS

Original title
Väsenpumpen

English titel
The Walk

Runtime
60 minutes

Genre
Drama

Actors
Anders Granström
Lars-Erik Berenett

Character scripts and improvisation
Csaba Bene Perlenberg
Anders Granström
Lars-Erik Berenett

Directed by
Csaba Bene Perlenberg

Cinematography
Jarno Lee Vinsencius

Soundrecording and mix
Pål Callmer

Production assistants
Johan Simonsson
Magnus Göransson

Produced by
Fredrik Myrtell
Csaba Bene Perlenberg

Executive producers
Mikael Svensson
Helena Danielsson

Co-produced with
FilmCentrum Syd

Supported by
Landskrona Cultural Department

Recording format
Mini-DV (Panasonic AG-DVX100, progressive)

Screening format
Mini-DV, DV-CAM

Aspect ratio
4:3 Letterboxed

Sound
Stereo

Language
Swedish

Subtitles
English

Country
Sweden

Year
2007

Contact
Hepp Film
Fersens väg 7
211 42 Malmö
Sweden

+46 (0)40-98 44 62
fredrik@heppfilm.se
www.heppfilm.se

The Walk is distributed with support from Film i Skåne and the Swedish Film Institute.