Time’s Up

Director's Note:

“Together we participate in a nine-month film experiment to see what really happens – whether one’s life appears to accelerate or decelerate when expecting a baby, whether one loses or wins time in the process. Moreover, is it even possible to lose or win time? We’ve chosen a highly personalized form for our film – to better reach others and touch them emotionally. We are hardly alone in the questions we ask. In today’s society, time has become money. People feel increasingly pressured, longing to return to an era when clocks ticked differently. Such an era was not that long ago....”

Mentor's Note:

Marie-Catherine Theiler and Jan Peters are fascinating their audience with the matter-of-fact like choice of their technologies, because, apparently, they only use the ways and means amateurs would fall back on. As far as the content is concerned, however, their films display no tranquility and distinguish themselves by their courage, stringency and substance. Jan’s 20-year autobiographic film oeuvre is well known, but nevertheless, or just therefore, I am very pleased with the joint and strictly artistic approach both filmmakers take: that of the pregnant Marie-Catherine and that of Jan, the master of the I-perspective, who both will film each other. This joint documentary film work that satirizes the means of the film at the same time is provoking and will win over audiences of any age with its honesty I expect from it.

(Peter Badel/ DOP, Germany)

Production Notes:

Author / Director	Marie-Catherine Theiler, Jan Peters
Producer:	Stefan Kloos / Kloos & Co. Medien GmbH, Jan Peters
Camera	Marie-Catherine Theiler, Jan Peters
Sound recordist	Marie-Catherine Theiler, Jan Peters
Editor	Sandra Trostel
Sound Design	Thies Mynther
Composer	Pit Przygodda
Line producer	Caroline Kirberg
Running time	14:55
Shooting format	Super 16, Super 8, DVCam, AVI
Screening format	35 mm
Sound format	Dolby Digital 5.1

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Short Synopsis:

The few “slow” seconds it takes an auto accident to pluck them from their hectic, everyday existence become the starting point for two filmmakers, Jan Peters and Marie-Catherine Theiler, to conduct their own, very personal, time experiment. Within the timeframe of Marie-Catherine’s pregnancy, the directors leave no stone unturned, examining with wit and irony how today’s society – and above all they themselves – deal with the subject of 'time'.

Long Synopsis:

The two filmmakers depart Berlin in a rental car bearing a harmless voucher for a stay at the Hotel Belvédere near the Rhone glacier in the Swiss Alps. They feel themselves to be under great time pressure and organizational stress. Shortly before arriving at their destination, the wheels of their car lose contact with the narrow, winding mountain road. As the car rotates repeatedly on its own axel, the two passengers experience an elongation, a slowing of time.

The hustle and bustle, the haste of the entire trip is replaced by calm composure as the vehicle skids across the asphalt – a few seconds extend into eternity. The two filmmakers find themselves in the car resting against a crash barrier – in shock but unharmed.

Back in Berlin, they remain in the grip of the shift in their own perception of time. Everything appears in a new light: the hectic nature of daily life with its chronically short days, overlong “To Do” lists, chasing down of appointments, piles of unanswered e-mails, the permanent presence of the mobile phone, the worried glance at a wristwatch. When Marie-Catherine realizes she is pregnant, she and Jan use the following nine months as the timeframe for a self-experiment, a quest to deal with time and its effects in a new way. With themselves as subjects, the film accompanies its makers as they attend time management workshops and slow-down rest cures; interview time researchers, physicists and artists; or compare urban and rural life. By casting a personal and intimate look upon everyday life, the filmmakers unearth societal tendencies while maintaining their humour and a sharp eye for self-irony. Marie-Catherine Theiler and Jan Peters often use the author-narrator approach in the form of an autobiographical diary. Their focus is always on direct experience, on the spontaneous character of filmed situations. TIME´S UP – AN EXPERIMENT IN TIME MANAGEMENT is first-time collaboration for these two filmmakers on such a lengthy project. They vowed to merge their respective styles and invoke an entirely new form of film art.

Jan Peters:

Jan Peters is born in Hannover in 1966, studied at Hamburg Art Institut (HfbK); he co-founded the filmmakers group ABBILDUNGSZENTRUM (since 1994). Besides short and feature films Jan peters although creates radiophonic plays and participates in art exhibitions. Lives and works in Berlin.

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Marie-Catherine Theiler:

born in 1976 in Luzern. Studied Theater and Journalism at the University of Bern and Fribourg/ CH, assistant lecturer at the Institut of Theater Sciences, Bern. From 1997 to 2000 she worked as actor and assistant on theater productions in Bern (Stadttheater Bern, Schlachthaus-Theater Bern, Hochschule der darstellenden Kunste Bern). From 2000 to 2005 she studied at ESBA, University of Fine Arts, Geneva, section film. In 2005/06 master class at ESBA Genf, professors Claudio Pazienza and Jean-Louis Comolli, assistant lecturer at the HEAD (old ESBA), section film Geneva, in 2008 Grant for Berlin of the Kulturkommission Zentralschweiz.

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Sandra Trostel:

Born in 1976
1996 - 1998 diverse practical works and assistances
1998 - 2000 Post Production Supervisor/Editor at the production company Cobblestone Pictures, specialized in advertisement
Since 2000 Freelance Film Editor
Documentary films
Feature Films
Advertisements
Music videos
2001 - 2002 postgraduate studies for scenic montage and documentary film at the International Film School (IFS) in Cologne

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