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THE CHURCH STAYS IN THE VILLAGE

DIE KIRCHE BLEIBT IM DORF

By Ulrike GROTE

FORTUNE COOKIE FILM GMBH - as PROD

Comedy - Completed 2011

Two villages, one church, and one cemetery - the cemetery in one village, the church in the other... A church with a curse - but no one who believes in it...
Two villages that have stopped talking... Romeo and Julia fighting... An American who buys the church because it holds undreamt of treasure..

- Year of production
- 2011
- Genres
- Comedy
- Countries
- GERMANY
- Languages
- GERMAN
- Budget
- 3 - 5 M$
- Duration
- 89 mn
- Director(s)
- Ulrike GROTE
- Writer(s)
- Ulrike GROTE
- Cast
- Natalia WÖRNER, Karoline EICHHORN, Julia NACHTMANN, Christian PÄTZOLD, Elisabeth SCHWARZ, Stephan SCHAD, Hans LÖW, Peter JORDAN
- ISAN
- 0000-0003-6B42-0000-2-0000-0000-V
- EIDR
- 10.5240/2EEA-751A-1395-A36B-72BE-6
- Producer(s)
- Ilona SCHULTZ (Fortune Cookie Film)
- Synopsis
- Klara Häberle, a wild and cheeky, beautiful girl from Oberrieslingen, is heavily in love, namely in Peter Rossbauer from Unterrieslingen. Peter, however, a bashing, dynamic young pig farmer with an ambition in organic farming, is besotted by Klara. They would like to get married but that is simply out of the question! For the shrewd vineyard owner, Gottfried Häberle, Klaras father, and Elisabeth Rossbauer, Peters sharp-tongued pig farmer mother, are dead against it! Why? Simple! Unterrieslingen and Oberrieslingen, two villages in Swabia, are old enemies. Since medieval times, the villages have had to share a church and a cemetery. The church is in Oberrieslingen and the cemetery in Unterrieslingen. Today, it’s Granny Anni’s, Häberle’s mother, funeral.
  The funeral procession leads through the vineyard. Exactly at the border separating the two villages, the Unterrieslingers encounter the Oberrieslinger congregation. The situation gets out of hand.
  At the funeral reception, Howard Jones, a wealthy American antiquities dealer, turns up in Häberl’s inn. He is accompanied by his business partner from Hamburg, Dieter Osterloh. Jones and Osterloh – on instruction of Howard’s father – suspect that the church contains an antiquity of terrific value. The American offers the astounded Oberrieslingers 5 million dollars for their little church without revealing what exactly he is looking for.
  Headed by Gottfried Häberle, the Oberrieslingers accept the offer. But they do not reckon with Elisabeth Rossbauer and the Unterrieslingers who are against the deal. When it comes to a major row, Peter Rossbauer is injured and ends up in hospital. Klärchen despairs. Peter’s mother is horrified and finally agrees to selling the church. She has had enough and signs the sales contract.
  The American gets down to business and makes preparations for dispatching the church. Meanwhile, Gottfried Häberle’s and Elisabeth Rossbauer’s children start wondering why this American is so interested in the old church and start investigating. They find out that the American fooled both villages and being fooled makes a real Swabian red-hot furious. From now on, Ober- and Unterrieslingen have a common cause.
  They come up with the hilarious idea of hiding their church from the American. Christine very successfully distracts him. The others discover the heavily sought-after antiquity, a centuries old original script of „Romeo & Julia“. Howard has failed, Osterloh is deeply annoyed with the philanderer.
  Peter and Klara, at last, are able to marry. The church is relocated to the vineyard, right in the middle between the two villages. Christine and Maria both find their male counterparts at last, too. The sun shines peacefully over a little church in Swabia.
- Beginning of shooting
- Aug 01, 2011