The tragicomedy is set in the fictional republic of Zubrowka and is an unconventional adaptation of Stefan Zweig’s memoirs »The World of Yesterday« as well as his personal experiences. In the plot, the director picks up on central motifs of the book: the grief over the destroyed lives of the refugees, the longing for the spirit of classical Europe and the condemnation of National Socialism.
“Mr. Anderson is no realist. This movie makes a marvelous mockery of history, turning its horrors into a series of graceful jokes and mischievous gestures. You can call this escapism if you like. You can also think of it as revenge.«
Anthony Oliver Scott, The New York Times
The film’s numerous awards include Academy Awards for Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Music Written for Motion Pictures, and Best Production Design. The study project focuses on the work of production designers Anna Pinnock and Adam Stockhausen as well as graphic designer and prop maker Annie Atkins. Over the course of a few weeks, the students analysed selected film scenes and reconstructed architectural information from still images. Plan material could only be researched sporadically and if – not untypical for film buildings – in different versions. The students then translated this content into model miniatures with different scales. The experience that the rules of film architecture differ from real construction, despite many similarities, was just as much a part of the design process as the experiment with model building materials and their joining in order to capture the unique character of the scenes.
With the kind support of the state of Baden-Württemberg. The scenography design in the summer semester 2023 was supervised by Prof. Andreas Kretzer.
The exhibition will be on display until the end of January 2024, so enjoy looking at it!
