Victoria

[projekktor id=’21629′]

Victoria is a German drama directed by Sebastian Schipper (Sometime in August). It is an ambitious project that was shot in one continuous take, and not a bunch of stitched together cuts like Birdman. The film premiered at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival and won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution for Cinematography. It stars Laia Costa, Frederick Lau, and Franz Rogowski.

Victoria, a young woman from Madrid, meets four local Berliners outside a nightclub. Sonne and his friends promise to show her a good time and the real side of the city. But these lads have gotten themselves into hot water: they owe someone a dangerous favor that requires repaying that evening. As Victoria’s flirtation with Sonne deepens into something more, he convinces her to come along for the ride. And later, when things become more ominous and possibly lethally dangerous for Sonne, she insists on coming along. As the night takes on an ever more menacing character, what started out as a good time, quickly spirals out of control.

Schipper recalled the day of the shoot. “On April 27th, 2014, we started the camera a little after 4:30 AM in a club we’d built ourselves (in order to keep locations close to each other), and after two hours and eighteen minutes – after we’d run, walked, strolled and climbed through 22 locations, had more than 150 extras handled by six assistant directors, and seven actors followed in succession by three sound crews – we were done – at 6:48 AM.”

Victoria is rated 14A.