"Fritzi - A revolutionary Tale" - FBW Valuation

We are very pleased that the German "FBW" (Film- and Media Rating Agency) has awarded "Fritzi - A revolutionary Alte" the title of "particularly valuable".

Jury evaluation:
The FBW jury awarded the film the title "particularly valuable".
The film Fritzi -  A revolutionaly tale" is based on the children's book "Fritzi war dabei" by Hanna Schott and Gerda Raidt. Ralf Kukula and Matthias Bruhn have developed a more contemporary animation concept for the film, which at the same time is based on the classics of the ligne claire.
The story begins at the beginning of school in Summer 1989 in Leipzig: Fritzi's best friend Sophie went on holiday with her mother in Hungary, but did not return. Slowly Fritzi begins to understand that her best friend has fled to West Germany and only left the dog behind. For the first time she asks herself essential questions, which can also concern her: But why do we have to flee from our own country?
The search for her friend leads Fritzi rather coincidentally into the Monday demonstrations protesting against the wall, to the militarily secured border and brings her into conflicts in her school and with the state security. Fritzi experiences the city of Leipzig at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall, always hoping and trying to finally embrace her friend Sophie again - until the girls face each other at the border.
The film Fritzi - A revolutionary Tale is an attempt to make the GDR theme clear in its differentiation. Some stereotypical representations accommodate the fairytale style of the film, but may also be due to the childlike perspective. Many aspects of ideology are gradually clarified through dialogue and presented in a way that is comprehensible to a child audience.
A great love for details is noticeable in the depiction of the milieu: Shop windows, classrooms, cityscapes, border fortifications - all this has been carefully reconstructed from historical documents and contemporary witness experiences. A differentiated figure drawing of parents and children accommodates this.
Classical cartoon technique proves to be an interesting artistic decision, especially since the simplicity of the figure design is in tension with the detail of the backgrounds, resulting in unusual effects, even though the narration is in some places a little kitschy and fairy-tale. The theme is illuminated from the point of view of children, who are initially involved naively and then more and more consciously. Politically, the film may raise questions in relation to today's developments that it is not necessarily able to answer satisfactorily. However, this cannot be blamed on the artistically, aesthetically and dramaturgically successful concept. The jury therefore honours the film not only as a children's and youth film, but also as a historical film for the whole family with the title "particularly valuable".

©Weltkino Filmverleih

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