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Published on filmportal.de (https://www.filmportal.de)

Step Across the Border

BR Deutschland Schweiz 1987-1990 Dokumentarfilm

In the documentary "Step Across the Border" about the multi-instrumentalist Fred Frith, the free montage and observational skills of Direct Cinema respond to the improvised music of its protagonist. Like the musicians in a band, the film team sees itself as a collective working together on spontaneous artistic expression. Over two years of filming in Japan, Europe and the USA, concert recordings, interviews and everyday life on the road are captured and combined into a rhythmic journey of sound.  

Credits

Director

  • Nicolas Humbert
  • Werner Penzel

Screenplay

  • Nicolas Humbert
  • Werner Penzel

Director of photography

  • Oscar Salgado

Editing

  • Gisela Castronari
  • Vera Burnus
  • Nicolas Humbert
  • Werner Penzel

Music

  • Fred Frith

Production company

  • Cine Nomad Filmproduktion (München)
  • Res Balzli & Cie. Filmproduktion (Nidau)

Producer

  • Res Balzli

Alle Credits

Director

  • Nicolas Humbert
  • Werner Penzel

Screenplay

  • Nicolas Humbert
  • Werner Penzel

Director of photography

  • Oscar Salgado

Assistant camera

  • Dieter Fahrer

Animation

  • Lena Knilli
  • Cornelia Förch

Editing

  • Gisela Castronari
  • Vera Burnus
  • Nicolas Humbert
  • Werner Penzel

Sound

  • Jean Vapeur

Audio mixing

  • Max Rammler-Rogall

Sound (other)

  • Benedykt Grodon (Studioaufnahmen)
  • Rainer Carben (Studioaufnahmen)

Music

  • Fred Frith

Participation

  • Fred Frith
  • Joey Baron
  • Ciro Battista
  • Iva Bittová
  • Tom Cora
  • Jean Derome
  • Pavel Fajt
  • Eitetsu Hayashi
  • Tim Hodgkinson
  • Arto Lindsay
  • Renè Lussier
  • Haco
  • Kevin Norton
  • Bob Ostertag
  • Zeena Parkins
  • Lawrence Wright
  • John Zorn
  • Robert Frank
  • Julia Judge
  • Jonas Mekas
  • John Spacely
  • Yasushi Utsunomiya
  • Tom Walker

Production company

  • Cine Nomad Filmproduktion (München)
  • Res Balzli & Cie. Filmproduktion (Nidau)

Commissioned by

  • Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) (Köln)
  • Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) (Hamburg)
  • Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) (München)

Producer

  • Res Balzli

Producer (TV)

  • Silvia Koller (BR)
  • Michael Fincke (NDR)
  • Gerhard Honal (WDR)

Unit production manager

  • Res Balzli

Location manager

  • Peter Zobel

Shoot

    • 1987 - 1990: Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Verona, St. Remy de Provence, Leipzig, London, Yorkshire, New York City, Zürich und Bern
Duration:
2370 m, 90 min
Format:
16mm - Blow-Up 35mm, 1:1,66
Video/Audio:
s/w, Mono
Screening:

Uraufführung (CH): 14.01.1990, Solothurn, Filmtage;
Erstaufführung (DE): 11.02.1990, Berlin, IFF - Forum

Titles

Additional titles
  • Originaltitel (DE) Step Across the Border
  • Untertitel A Ninety Minute Celluloid Improvisation

Versions

Original

Duration:
2370 m, 90 min
Format:
16mm - Blow-Up 35mm, 1:1,66
Video/Audio:
s/w, Mono
Screening:

Uraufführung (CH): 14.01.1990, Solothurn, Filmtage;
Erstaufführung (DE): 11.02.1990, Berlin, IFF - Forum

Digitalisierte Fassung

Duration:
88 min
Format:
DCP 2k, 1:1,66
Video/Audio:
s/w, Mono
Screening:

Aufführung (DE): 19.06.2025 [Wiederaufführung]

Awards

International Film Festival San Francisco 1991
  • Golden Gate Award - Spezialpreis der Jury, Dokumentarfilm
Kommunales Kino Weingarten 1991
  • Goldene Filmspule
Europäischer Filmpreis 1990
  • Lobende Erwähnung
Images & Documents Figuera da Foz 1990
  • Grand Prix International
Hessischer Filmpreis 1990
  • Hessischer Filmpreis, Dokumentarfilm
Uppsala International Short Film Festival 1990
  • Uppsala Filmkaja (1. Preis), Bester Dokumentarfilm
Source-URL: https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/step-across-the-border_ea43d4a6f8ae5006e03053d50b37753d