Josephine

(2001)

Director: Rajko Grlić
Story: Rajko Grlić and Alex Koenigsmark (Based on Alex Koenigmsark’s short novel)
Script: Koraljka Meštrović
Camera: Slobodan Trninić
Editor: Andrija Zafranović, Marco Pav D’Auria
Music: Jan Jirasek
Production Design: Matthias Musse
Cast: Miroslav Vladyka, Maria Schrader, Giancarlo Esposito
Producers: Thomas Haeberle, Christian Becker, Dan Maag, Mike Downey
Produced by: Indigo Film, GmbH, Munich - F&ME, London, 2001
35 mm - Stereo Dollby - 97 Min

Josephine is the story of a man named Jan, a simple cheese-maker from a small, sleepy Bohemian town. The year is 1991 and passports are finally available to everyone. Jan tries to fulfill his father’s dream to go west in order to find a black woman who looks like Josephine Baker and spend a night with her. He arrives in Hamburg and after fulfilling his father’s dream Jan is ripped off by Spike, an American ex-actor and pimp. His passport is confiscated until he can pay his "debts" as a slave/cleaner in Spike’s bordello named "Hollywood." Here Jan meets Al, an East German ex-zoologist and a dancer. Their friendship grows and they fall in love, with tragic consequences.

Josephine was shown (illegally) at many international festivals in Asia, Europe and the USA but never distributed. Indigo Film GmbH, producer of the film, filed for bankruptcy during the post-production of the film and after nine years of administrative nightmares another German film company has cleared all the rights and is preparing to distribute the film.

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