WÄLDERN
2024
TV-Movie-Series, commissioned by WDR for ARD/Das Erste.
(2x 90 Min.)
Director: Till Franzen
Writers: Till Franzen & Martin Simmons
Producer: Sven Miehe
Commissioning Editor WDR: Anke Hirschel
TV-Premiere Germany:
”Wäldern: Das verschwundene Mädchen”: 18.09.24, 20.15h (ARD)
“Wäldern: Das Böse in den Spiegeln”: 20.09.24, 22.20h (ARD)
Synopsis:
Part 1: The Missing Girl (“Wäldern: Das verschwundene Mädchen”)
Pianist Lara Glanz (Rosalie Thomass) returns to her hometown of Wäldern shortly after her niece Magda (Valentina Leone) disappears. Lara takes a job as a music teacher and begins to search for the girl on her own in her spare time. The circumstances of Magda's disappearance seem increasingly ghostly. Other incidents and inhabitants of the sleepy village also puzzle Lara. For example, 16-year-old Aaron Wagner (Laurids Schürmann) is new to Lara's class. The introverted boy's mother seeks Lara's help. She has a strange concern that her divorced husband David is urging the boy to perform strange rituals. Lara takes up the matter and soon finds herself confronted with forces that cannot be of this world. Lara finds allies in the esoterically gifted alternative practitioner Dorothea Freiberg (Sabine Vitua) and Professor Emeritus Rudolf Klein (Peter Franke). At first, the three have no idea what demons they are facing, but then it becomes clear that Lara herself plays a central role in this mystery.
Teil 2: Evil in the mirrors (“Wäldern: Das Böse in den Spiegeln”)
Lara is still searching for her niece Magda, who has been declared dead by the police. At the same time, she has become a detective of the unexplained in the woods. She is approached by Jochen Rust (Moritz Führmann), whose daughter Merle (Tilda Jenkins) has disappeared since the flood in the Ahr valley. While his wife Verena (Judith Bohle) wants to declare her dead, he is certain that Merle is alive and asks Lara for help. Despite her compassion, she is initially overwhelmed. But then Merle reappears out of nowhere, dripping wet in her parents' garden. The girl is like a new person. She speaks affectionate words, but moves around her former home as if remote-controlled. Lara's adoptive sister Greta (Narges Rashidi) also seems to be involved in the mysterious events surrounding Wäldern. Lara, Dorothea and Rudolf are on the trail of the mystery of where Merle has been for the last two years. An exciting search between the worlds begins...
Starring:
Rosalie Thomass, Sabine Vitua, Peter Franke, Laurids Schürmann, Tanja Schleiff, Ralf Drexler, Max Bretschneider, Narges Rashidi, Mark Zak,Julika Jenkins, Peter Fieseler, Tilda Jenkins, uva.
Crew:
Writers: Till Franzen, Martin Simons
Director: Till Franzen
Producer: Sven Miehe
Commissioning editor: Anke Hirschel (WDR)
Line producer: Maxim Juretzka
Director of Photography: Alina Albrecht
Edtiors: Robert Kummer, Matthias Schwelm
Production Design: Simon Schläger
Costumes: Minsun Kim, Marita Hoffjahn
Make-Up: Mirjam Himmelsberger, Iris Müther
Sound: Christoph Schilling
Sound Mixer: Alexander Wunsch
Music: Hannah von Hübbenet, Raphael Schalz
Production Manager: Andreas Jupe