Filmecho/Filmwoche

Ready for new things

Florian Froschmayer on the romantic comedy „Lovin’ Amsterdam“ on 1.

Love is a tease, so they say, and it's certainly true when it comes to the relationship between the Dutch and the Germans, which is characterized by different mentalities and mutual prejudices and a great rivalry in football. In Florian Froschmayer's romantic comedy "Lovin’ Amsterdam", a German-Dutch love rages between a young German real estate attorney and an unconventionally charming Amsterdam sandwich bar owner.

The film tells the story of the young Sophie de Jonge (Bracha van Doesburg), who runs a small sandwich bar on the Prinzengracht and chugs to her flat on a houseboat with her sister and her lesbian companion on a small motorboat. The young real estate attorney Max (Vladimir Burlakov) from Germany, who buys a sandwich for the office from Sophie, is purposeful and organized on the road, but when he meets Sophie in the evening in a music bar, sparks fly between them. Unexpectedly, Max's parents (Rita Russek and Hans Joachim Heist) show up from Germany and get cozy in Max's apartment to celebrate their only son's 30th birthday.

The famous Jordaan district in Amsterdam, with its narrow gabled houses along the canals and the numerous bridges that gracefully swing over them could hardly be more picturesque; the former workers 'and craftsmen' s quarters have long been regarded as an alternative and multicultural district populated by artists, world travelers and drop-outs. The director filmed the comedy "Lovin’ Amsterdam" for Provobis film production under contract with the ARD / Degeto (28th April at 8:15 pm on 1), and his film has been touched by the cosmopolitan flair of the quarter.

Froschmayer has shot a number of crime series. His latest is the controversial CRIME SCENE episode "You will be judged" from Lucerne with over 9 million viewers. He has moved into an adjacent quarter with a view of the seven bridges across the Reguliersgracht. "There it looks the same, but there aren't that many cafes with tables in the street and therefore not so many tourists out and about". Froschmayer was also able to count on a good service producer who made the impossible happen. The US production "The Hitman's Bodyguard" with Samuel L Jackson was shot in the same district earlier. "They burned the bridges with the local people, and that did not make it any easier for us."

Florian Froschmayer has developed his own software, which has been on the market since last year. ScriptToMovie supports the production preparation and planning of all participants from the first screenplay to the last shooting day. It helps in planning as well as logistics and proves its worth in situations when it is necessary to change filming plans at short notice. "This is the case, for example, when a motif or subject becomes irrelevant or an actor gets ill. This can mean having to turn everything around, a puzzle, until everything fits again," says Froschmayer, who has more time for his creative work using the software. And since everyone in the team is using the same program, it also proves to be a good and direct communication tool.

A lot of traps and obstacles are in the way of the young lovers' happiness, especially since Max's parents want to bring him back home. Sophie and Max, as well as their parents live in very different worlds - one is more career-oriented and materialistic, while the other is more alternative and cosmopolitan: "Yes, different types of people come together. But it's mainly a film about changes that you have to accept," says Froschmayer. "Max has to learn that he cannot simply run away from his past or his origin. He is now at a point where his new life begins and he has to face it. And his parents, already in the 60s and at the end of their professional careers, have to reinvent themselves. They have to learn to get over their old habits and experiences and to be ready for the next life stage and thus for something new." In the middle of the Jordaan district, Froschmayer and his Dutch-German team couldn't (...)

Florian Froschmayer is currently shooting a new episode from the "Stralsund" crime series of ZDF in Hamburg. He has also shot a political thriller for the big screen, a historical film about the "Rosewood Files", which Stasi agents abroad created using intelligence services. These somehow entered the USA after the collapse of the German Democratic Republic. The author of the script has published the novel After the Pain under the pseudonym Lucas Grimm. Froschmayer expects the book to draw even more interest to the film project.

original text by: Bernd Jetschin

Outlet: Filmecho (Germany)
Date: April, 2017
Circulation: 2600 (Weekly magazine, geared towards Germany’s movie industry, comparable to “Variety“)

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The weekly magazine FILMECHO/FILMWOCHE (Film Echo / Film Week) is geared toward the TV and film industry, mainly toward cinema operators, film distributors, film and TV producers. The circle of readers gravitates around all professional areas that are relevant to the film industry: film festivals, journalists, cinematographic companies, suppliers, television operators, advertising and press agencies, media law firms, bank experts and investors.