Veit Helmer travels to 'Tokyo'

Film follows 'Absurdistan'

By ED MEZA

Veit Helmer is traveling from “Absurdistan” to Japan for his next project, “Stranger in Tokyo.”

Part of Japanese pubcaster NHK’s Tokyo Modern series, the 110-minute documentary examines the lives and careers of foreigners living in Tokyo.

NHK invited Helmer to direct the doc after he was selected as one of the finalists for the 2006 Sundance/NHK Intl. Filmmakers Awards for “Absurdistan,” which screened this year at Sundance.

The wacky romantic fable, shot in a remote village in the rugged mountains of Azerbaijan, with a diverse international cast, has enjoyed positive reviews and is one of the main titles on offer from international distrib Beta Cinema at this year’s European Film Market in Berlin.

Produced by Helmer and Talent Campus alumni Linda Kornemann, pic tells the whimsical story of a village where the local women resort to going on a sex strike to force their work-averse men to repair the aging and dilapidated underground water system.

“It’s an incredibly unique film,” said Dirk Schuerhoff, managing director of Beta Cinema, which recently picked up international rights to the pic.

Although not exactly a silent film, the pic’s visual storytelling and limited dialogue makes it easily accessible for international auds, said Schuerhoff.

Loosely based on an actual incident in Turkey, where the local women went on a similar strike, “Absurdistan” turned out to be one of the director’s most challenging productions to date.

In addition to hard-nosed customs officers in Turkey and Georgia who held up his equipment truck on its journey from Germany to Azerbaijan, Helmer also performed a delicate dance of shooting a comedy about sexual coercion in an Islamic village and even ended up financing the completion of the village hotel where he and his crew were staying.

“Absurdistan” is Helmer’s third feature following 1999’s “Tuvalu” and 2003’s “Gate to Heaven,” both romantic comedy-dramas exhibiting Helmer’s penchant for quirky love stories.

The upcoming “Stranger in Tokyo” isn’t Helmer’s first documentary. The director’s award-winning 2005 pic “Behind the Couch: Casting in Hollywood” examined the work of Hollywood’s top casting directors, while 2000’s “City Lives — Berlin” looked at the fast-changing German capital, offering views of the city from some of its most renowned residents, including architect Daniel Liebeskind, the late Markus Wolf, East Germany’s former intelligence chief, and playwright and filmmaker Christopher Schlingensief.