Currents Autumn 2022 Vol. 38, Issue III | Página 27

dressed movie stars . The cast , producers , and writers posed for a dizzying combination of photos on the red carpet and took the time to sign endless autographs . Zoe almost didn ’ t recognize main character Lotta , as actress Meggy Hussong had grown out her hair and wore it in a casual yet elegant updo .
Zoe used her time to ask important questions , like what it was like to kiss someone on screen and what the most fun the actors had while playing their characters was . Laila Ziegler , who plays Berenike and engaged in quite a few smooches onscreen , said it wasn ’ t so bad , just part of being an actor . Yola Streese , who plays Cheyenne , said she liked playing a role where she could also be very like herself .
Once the photos and red carpet interviews were completed , everyone took their popcorn and drinks into the theater for the first official Hamburg film showing . Kika reporter Jess Schöne , who moderated the event , welcomed the audience and played a message from director Martina Plura , who could not attend due to another project . Following the movie screening , all actors and production members present , even the llama ( not alpaca ) caretakers from Schleswig-Holstein , were brought on stage to answer questions from the audience . Zoe wondered how alike Laila and Berenike are in real life . The most-asked question though was whether there will be a third film . Producers were quick to point out that it depends very much on how well the movie does in theaters . They encouraged everyone to tell their friends and family about it . The film opened August 18 in theaters throughout Germany and the accompanying “ Buch zum Film ” hit stores in sync with the film release — in plenty of time for Christmas .
Three Thousand Years of Longing

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Australia / USA 2022 Opened Sept . 1 , 2022
Directed by : George Miller Writing credits : George Miller , Augusta Gore Principal actors : Tilda Swinton , Idris Elba , Pia Thunderbold

Three Thousand Years of Longing is a romantic fantasy movie from Australian filmmaker George Miller ( Mad Max franchise , Babe [ 1995 ], Happy Feet [ 2006 ], The Witches of Eastwick [ 1987 ]) based upon the short story The Djinn in the Nightingale ‘ s Eye , written by English novelist , poet , and Booker Prize winner A . S . Byatt . A djinn or genie is an invisible spirit or fictional magical creature believed to inhabit the earth and appear in the form of a human or an animal .

Alithea Binnie ( Tilda Swinton ), a dedicated British professor of narratology — the study of storytelling and narrative structure — is traveling to Istanbul for a
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speaking engagement . Alone in a hotel room , she accidentally opens a glass bottle that she had chosen earlier during a tour of a bazaar . An enormous djinn ( Idris Elba ) suddenly occupies the entire room ; he can also disappear instantly . The presence of the djinn comes as a curious but not uninteresting surprise to the academic , who is accustomed to a solitary life in the company of written words , which form stories on a page but never take physical form . This time , the genie is out of the bottle , and the djinn offers Alithea three wishes in exchange for his freedom . At first she refuses , as she knows all the stories about wishes gone wrong . As a
Longing continued on Page 28
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