29.09.2023 | New series "The Sources of Evil"
On 1 October, the six-part crime thriller series "Die Quellen des Bösen" premiered at Filmfest Hamburg in the "Television" section. The high-end series starring Fahri Yardim and Henriette Confurius was produced by the Hamburg production company Wüste Medien.
East Germany in 1993: the badly mangled body of a young girl is found in a forest in the former border area. East German detective Ulrike Bandow (Henriette Confurius) and her Hamburg colleague Koray Larssen (Drivers Yardim) take over the investigation of the murder case, which takes viewers back into the German-German past.
The series is "a clash between East and West Germany", as Björn Vosgerau (Executive Producer) describes it. It is the first series production for Wüste Medien. The idea arose from a conversation a few years ago between Catharina Junk (Head Script Writer) and Björn Vosgerau: "We wanted to produce a crime series set in the early 1990s because we are fascinated by this period of upheaval, which is still having an impact today. The core idea emerged from the conflict between East and West Germany.
The burgeoning National Socialism in East Germany is also touched upon in the course of the story. Nevertheless, the focus is not on the historical details of the time, but concentrates on the genre and the characters of the story: "'Die Quellen des Bösen' does not deal with the collapse of the GDR politically. The series is primarily intended to be a genre series that does not aim to provide big answers, but rather to paint a picture of society. "We want to portray a certain atmosphere that reflects the upheaval and a certain forlornness of the time through the characters," explains Björn Vosgerau.
The 90s setting posed a particular challenge. The Executive Producer explains: "The exciting thing about the setting was the clash between East and West. What did it look like when the first cars from the West were driving around and the first adverts were up, but Trabants and Wartburgs were still around. Our task was to recreate this situation and portray it authentically.
Due to the proximity in time, many actual objects from the 90s could be used. Another important endeavour was to create an authentic set design for the period and yet use few VFX effects. The motif tours were correspondingly elaborate with the search for the most untouched film locations possible. In keeping with the fictional small town of Wussnitz, which is located in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and where the action of the series takes place, a large part of the series was also filmed in the state. However, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein were also used as filming locations. This particularly applies to the gruesome locations in the series: for example, the corpse discovery at the beginning was filmed in the Sachsenwald forest in Hamburg, which, according to Stephen Rick, was particularly suitable due to its "mystical and mysterious atmosphere". However, other locations had to be rebuilt a lot. The team found the so-called "Heisler Hof" in Schleswig-Holstein: "The barn of the "Heisler Hof" seen in the series is actually a modern building. As we also shot a lot of drone footage here and the modern roof was not allowed to be recognisable, it was completely rebuilt inside and out," reveals Stephen Rick.
Directors Stephen Rick had already shot other crime thriller formats before "Die Quellen des Bösen", including the feature film "Die dunkle Seite des Mondes" and the series "Allein gegen die Zeit", also in collaboration with Catharina Junk. Directors have also worked with Björn Vosgerau on "Tatort". The extraordinary thing about "Die Quellen des Bösen" is the inexplicable, almost supernatural occurrences surrounding the mysterious murder case. Stephan Rick explains: "We wanted to play with the genre of the crime thriller and challenge the audience in the process. Nevertheless, I wanted to keep one foot in reality without completely abandoning the genre. The audience should ask themselves: does the murder have a supernatural origin? Or is there a plausible solution?"
Filming took 70 days in total. The film was shot from September to mid-December 2022 and stars Henriette Confurius and Fahri Yardim - other roles include Chloé Albertine Heinrich, Filip Schnack and Angelina Häntsch. Most of the cast and crew will be present at the Filmfest Hamburg premiere. Anyone who missed the premiere can stream all episodes from 13 October on RTL +.
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