9-year-old Roman follows his mother Oksana, who left Ukraine to work illegally in Germany. There she lives with Gert, a 62- year old German widower, who suffers from diabetes. Gert tries to make friends with the boy, but Roman struggles for his mother´s attention. Then suddenly Oksana becomes ill and Roman is left alone with his rival. Gert turns out to be a good playmate, until he has an accident. Roman is now trapped in a remote place in a foreign country, alone, without his rival and his mother and unable to communicate in a foreign language.
Marcuz Lenz –– (Hattingen, Germany, 1969) grew up in the Ruhr and studied communication design at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen and the University of Art and Design in Helsinki. After receiving his degree, he studied directing and cinematography at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB). Since 2000, he has been working as a cinematographer for documentaries on television and film. Rival is his second feature.
«The templates for my characters of Roman, Gert and Oksana are real people whom I have personally encountered. […] From the very beginning, I was fascinated by the powerful but hard-to-define dependencies between the people in this triangular relationship. […] I firmly believe that the magic of cinema consists of building up empathy by viewing the world through the eyes of another. We experience the world of Rival through the eyes of the nine-year-old Roman. […] We, the audience, get to be just like him: curious and wild, overflowing with energy, untamable and in a natural state of inner freedom. Using a style that combines documentary-like observation and aesthetic accentuation, I wanted my audience to experience young Roman’s perspective. How does a child perceive the world?»
Rivale (Rival, 2020)
Close (2004)
Deustche Angst (medium, 2001)
Alles Ist Nie (short, 1998)
Immer Und Immer (short, 1997)
Kopf (short, 1995)
