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TV Drama set in Gondwana Parks - 18.04.06
Bumping into well-known German actors was the order
of the day at the two lodges. Stars like Sophie Schütt
('Typisch Sophie'), Carolina Vera ('Bewegte Männer')
or Daniel Morgenroth ('Bergkristall') had not come to
Gondwana Cañon Park and Gondwana Namib Park for
relaxation, however. Their visit involved hard work
instead – they had come to shoot a movie (working
title: 'Bushman's Paradise') for German television channel
ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen). |
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Dunes
in Gondwana Namib Park provide the setting for a movie:
director Michael Steinke with Sophie Schütt and
Tim Bergmann. |
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The story is
about two families living on neighbouring farms in Namibia.
Farmer’s daughter Antonia Voigts (Sophie Schütt)
is in love with farmer’s son Hans Kappes (Daniel
Morgenroth). But their love is doomed by an ancient,
deep-rooted animosity between their families... Namibia’s
aridity, which causes one of the farms to run out of
water, also plays an important role. The weather, however,
proved rather uncooperative: the most generous rainfalls
in decades transformed barren desert areas into blossoming
green scenery. |
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The
list of the cast read like a ‘Who is Who’
of German film: apart from Schütt, Vera and
Morgenroth it included Eva-Maria Meineke, Michael
Mendl, Mareike Carrière, Günter Mack
and Tim Bergmann. Director Michael Steinke chose
Gondwana Cañon Park and the Fish River
Canyon for the first four weeks of the production.
For several shoots the main building of Cañon
Lodge, constructed in 1913 by two German settlers
and refurbished for the hospitality business in
1996, was turned into a farmhouse once again.
In April the film crew and actors moved on to
Gondwana Namib Park north of Sossusvlei, where
the sand dunes of the Namib provided the setting
for other dramatic screenplay events. |
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On set at Cañon Lodge. |
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There was excitement
behind the scenes as well. The staff of Cañon
Lodge, Cañon Village, Cañon Roadhouse
and Namib Desert Lodge were constantly kept on their
toes as they supplied beverages and snacks for up to
40 people at varying locations. At the same time the
hospitality business at the lodges continued as usual
– the only restriction being the occasional request
for silence in the restaurant or on the terrace when
a shoot was about to begin. The guests willingly obliged
and in fact enjoyed sharing in the extraordinary atmosphere
of a movie in the making as well as the proximity of
well-known actors. |
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Other
locations apart from the Fish River Canyon and the Namib
Desert were Epupa, Etosha, Windhoek and Swakopmund.
The film is produced by Polyphon (Hamburg) for the ZDF;
logistics were handled by Namibian company Power &
Glory Films. The three-hour movie is scheduled to be
broadcast on the ZDF in two parts at the end of this
year – probably on 25 and 26 December at 20h15. |
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