China City

Posters

poster

Trailer

Treatment

"A Wave is Coming...."

CHINA CITY, a 60 plus minute krimi, is a new kind of film. Shot primarily on digital video by contemporary artist Frances Scholz, CHINA CITY stars museum director Kasper König and "surveillance artist" Julia Scher in a strange and dark story of creativity, longing and resistance.

A mysterious wave is coming. Legendary curator Kasper König -- whose position has so far allowed him to enjoy a very special relationship to the law -- goes renegade. He steals a priceless vase from the Asian Museum in plain daylight.

Is the Museum Director a thief, or has he simply redefined what it is to be a curator?

As a nameless transported L.A. detective (Julia Scher) walks the labyrinth of her own surveillance of König, she discovers the vase itself might just belong to the international "evil doctor" Fu Manchu. Has König has let out a genie? In fact, genies seem to be multiplying....

Improvised off a screenplay written by science fiction author and philosopher Mark von Schlegell (M.I.T./Semiotext(e)/Merve Verlag), on-location shooting puts the constantly changing light of a Cologne international cultural scene to work in a symbolic film noir fraught with mystery and suspense. Constructed according to principles of dogma and guerilla cinema, employing the low-budget fluid technology of the 21st century, CHINA CITY is not only a docufable from a moment of historical and cultural transition in the contemporary art world, it's an ambitious crossover from the avant-garde into traditional film storytelling. With cameos from Hollywood personalities (Paul Giamatti), German Krimi actors (Sabine Postel, Christine Urspruch), avant-garde heroes (Jonas Mekas), conceptual artists (Dan Graham) and a charismatic star whose time has come (Kasper König), CHINA CITY inaugurates a new and fruitful 21st century cinema -- raised by collaboration, digital technology, and the creative crossing of the boundaries between art and life.

Stills

still still

Credits

A Film by
Frances Scholz
Starring
Kasper König
Julia Scher
Special Guest Star
Paul Giamatti
Screenplay
Mark von Schlegell
Julia Scher
Production
stop/the/bus productions
Camera
Frances Scholz
Jan Höhe
Julia Scher
Mark von Schleggell
Score
Andreas Reihse
Music
E*Rock
The Warnings
Editing
Frances Scholz
Mark von Schlegell
Postproduction Assistance
Jan Höhe
Jonathan Maho
Selim Sevinc
Signage
Julia Scher
Catering
Kasper König
Cast (in order of appearance)
Julia Scher Detective
Mi-Kyung Yoo Sidekick
Frances Scholz Commissioner
Adele Schlombs Director of the Asian Museum
Jutta Tonger-Erk Lady at the Front Desk
Jonathan Maho Receptionist
Paola Malavassi Assistant to the Director
Jan Höhe Guard
Kasper König Fu Manchu
Clara Steves Genie
Axel Kuhn Depotmaster
Guido Fassbender Technician
Thomas Loerzer Technician
Amy Dog
Louwrens Langevoort Mayor
Walter Soo Hoo Himself
Paul Giamatti Chief Inspector Nayland Smith
Dan Graham Himself
Manu Burghart Newspaper Reader
Dan Hug Himself
Sybille Schedwill Party guest
Christine Urspruch Cop at Party
Sabine Postel Hauptkommissarin at Party
Jonas Mekas Himself
Michael Stevenson Man with Sign
Mark von Schlegell 2nd. Assistant
Luise und Hugo Herbst Babies
Barennie Moon Violinist in the Bath
Amed Kahraman Masseur
Made possible with the generous assistance of the following:
  • Dieter Bähr
  • Chet Baker
  • Thomas Bayerle
  • Wallace Berman
  • Eldridge Cleaver
  • Salvador Dali
  • Marlene Dietrich
  • Jasmin Döhring
  • Marcel Duchamp
  • Dirk Elbers
  • Dan Graham
  • Guerzenich Chor
  • Axel Hill
  • Claudia Hinz
  • Miriam Hopkins
  • Majorie Jongbloed
  • On Kawara
  • Mike Kelley
  • Pierre Klossowski
  • Kreidler
  • Günther Lambrecht
  • Birgit Laskowsky
  • Christopher Lee
  • Ernst Lubitsch
  • Dominik Marx
  • Eric Mast
  • Sarah Morris
  • O-Zone
  • Francis Picabia
  • Sigmar Polke
  • Tobias Rehberger
  • Sax Rohmer
  • Rosa & Herkules
  • Frank und Silke Scholz
  • Christopher Schwarz
  • George Segal
  • Igor Stravinsky
  • Paul Thek
  • Rosmarie Trockel
  • Andy Warhol
  • Kris Willner
  • China City Restaurant, Cologne
  • Greene Naftali, New York
  • Hof Dannwisch, Horst
  • Hop Louie, Los Angeles
  • Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne
  • Monika Sprüth Philomene Magers Berlin London
  • Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Cologne
  • Museum Ludwig, Cologne
  • Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt
  • Neptunbad, Cologne
  • Koelner Philharmonie, Cologne
  • Portikus, Frankfurt
  • Zirkus Ubuntu, Holstein
Shot on location in:
  • Cologne, Germany
  • Comporta, Portugal
  • Deutsche Bahn, Germany
  • Düsseldorf, Germany
  • Frankfurt, Germany
  • Horst, Germany
  • Hamburg, Germany
  • Los Angeles, California
  • Lisbon, Portugal
  • New York, New York

Technical Information

China City
Color and Black & White
61 minutes
2010

Shot on Mini DV
4:3

Press

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