Andy Herzog / Matthias Guenter – director, actor / director, cinematographer – Winter Guest
FRED’s Matt Micucci interviews Andy Herzog and Matthias Guenter, who co-directed the film WINTER GUEST, which was presented in the 60th edition of the Cork Film Festival (Herzog also plays the leading role in the film, while Guenter was its cinematographer).
The blueprint of the story was drawn up in advance. However, a lot of it was also constructed on the go, making WINTER GUEST a road movie that was actually made on the road, and therefore includes many aspects and elements that were really captured while filming – such as the interaction between the disenchanted and lost character with some colourful characters he meets along the way.Herzog and Guenter also talk about the different artists and films that influenced them in making the film, as well as the challenges they themselves, in real life, encountered in making their first feature film – kind of like the leading character of the film itself, although to much greater success.
WINTER GUEST: In the six years since Stefan Keller released his celebrated short film he has been in a creative crisis. Although he already filled 2000 pages with notes for his first feature film, the rough draft is far from finished. Much to the disappointment of his girlfriend Christina, whose biological clock is ticking. Now in financial distress, Keller takes on a job as an anonymous tester of youth hostels. It’s the beginning of a mad odyssey: Keller desperately fights for his film idea, tries to save his relationship and encounters strange characters and ordinary folk, all searching for the meaning of life.
The complete trilogy by Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud composed by Sex (2024), Love (2024) and Dreams (2025) will be presented at the Blzano Film Festival before landing in Italian cinemas
From Ari Aster’s Eddington to Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, the 2025 Cannes Film Festival lineup is rich with cinematic giants and rising voices.