Based on the novel "The Gamblers" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
What is the differance between video art and film? Video art comes from the tradition of art and film from the tradition of entertainment (or educaton - in anyway film has a "service traditon", art not ) .
(Definition by Bieniek)
Original film poster of „The Gamblers“ by Sebastian Bieniek, 2007.
The Story:
The General, accompanied by his two children and stepdaughter Polina, visits Baden-Baden. Supposedly to take advantage of the cure available there – isolated from the world. But evidence is piling up that the group of Russians, accompanied by a supposedly French businessman and a French beauty, is actually in Baden-Baden for nancial purposes. Perhaps hoping to hit big money in the casinos or, perhaps, wanting to secure a social position through newly woven family ties.
In the midst of this world – to an outsider, impenetrable – the house tutor of the General, Alexej Iwanovitsch, once ruled by an uncontrollable addiction to gambling, falls in love with his employers stepdaughter, Polina. Alexej understands very quickly that he has entered a world ruled by monetary worries and dreams and that, offhand, he is not Polina’s perfect suitor. To him it seems that not only his social position, but also his self-imposed ban from the casino, stand in his way.
A man needs money.
Not until the rich Russian great-aunt Babuschka is dead does it seem that the General’s money problems are settled and Alexej is completely out of the race for Polina’s favor. But it turns out as no one had expected...
„The Gamblers“ (film still) by Sebastian Bieniek, 2007
Setting:
Teufelsberg (German for Devil's Mountain) is a man-made hill in Berlin, Germany, in the Grunewald locality of former West Berlin. It rises about 80 metres (260 ft) above the surrounding Teltow plateau and 120.1 metres (394 ft) above the sea level, in the north of Berlin's Grunewald Forest. It was named after the Teufelssee (i.e. Devil's lake) in its southerly vicinity. The hill is made of rubble, and covers an under-construction Nazi military-technical college (Wehrtechnische Fakultät). During the Cold War, there was a U.S. listening station on the hill, Field Station Berlin.
„The Gamblers“ (film still) by Sebastian Bieniek, 2007
Technical details:
„The Gamblers“ (film still) by Sebastian Bieniek, 2007
Cast:
Sebastian Bieniek - Alexej
Fritzi Malve Voss (Frederike Nass) - Polina
Thomas B. Hoffmann - Mr. Astley
Viatcheslav Demidov - General
Ninel Genina Demidov - Babushka
Sven Gerhardt - Des Grieux
Uta Ziegler - Blanche
Crew:
Distributor: Sebastian Bieniek
Producer: Sebastian Bieniek
Screenplay: Sebastian Bieniek based on a novel by. F. Dostojewskij
Cinematographer: Vojta Pokorny & Camilo Sottolichio
Music: Zarko Jovasevic
Editor: Sebastian Bieniek
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