Synopsis
GHOSTED is the suspenseful story of an unusual love affair that bridges two cultures and two cities.
The sudden death in unexplained circumstances of her young Taiwanese lover Ai-ling throws Hamburg artist Sophie Schmitt totally off balance. She travels to Taipei to exhibit a video installation dedicated to Ai-ling. On the opening night, Sophie is approached by a pushy journalist, Mei-li, who takes her on a trip to the famous Taipei night markets and tries to seduce the grieving artist. But Sophie rejects her and returns to Hamburg.
Shortly thereafter, Mei-li turns up on Sophie’s doorstep unannounced. Soon, Sophie realizes that Mei-li is secretly investigating Ai-ling’s death. A series of strange happenings and sudden flashes of recollection unsettle Sophie. Then she discovers that the Taiwanese newspaper that Mei-Li claims to work for has never heard of her and that nobody by that name has ever entered Germany.
So who is this mysterious woman?
Monika Treut
In the mid-eighties Ms. Treut started to write, direct and produce award-winning independent features (SEDUCTION: THE CRUEL WOMAN, 1985; VIRGIN MACHINE, 1988; MY FATHER IS COMING, 1991; EROTIQUE/ LET’S TALK ABOUT SEX, 1994) and documentaries (FEMALE MISBEHAVIOR, 1992; DIDN’T DO IT FOR LOVE, 1997; GENDERNAUTS, 1999) which screened at numerous film festivals throughout the world - among them Berlin and Toronto - and enjoy international distribution. As Frédéric Strauss mentioned “Monika Treut has always put the experience and the pleasure of the senses in the foreground of her films with a subtle sense of humor and a real tenderness for her characters.”
Since 2003 Treut started working in Taiwan. Her portrait of 3 women TIGERWOMEN GROW WINGS premiered at the 2005 Berlin filmfestival (Panorama) and her documentary on the young Taiwanese dancer Yi-chun MADE IN TAIWAN aired on 3-sat/ZDF and PTS-TV in Taiwan in the fall of 2005.
Filmography
2005 MADE IN TAIWAN
2005 TIGERWOMEN GROW WINGS
2003 ENCOUNTER WITH WERNER SCHROETER
2002 WARRIOR OF LIGHT
1992 GENDERNAUTS
1992 FEMALE MISBEHAVIOR
1991 MY FATHER IS COMING
1988 VIRGIN MACHINE
1985 EDUCTION: THE CRUEL WOMAN
Director’s Statement
My enduring interest in Taiwanese culture began during my first visit in 2002 when invited by the film festival “Women Make Waves” to show a retrospective of my work. My fascination with the unique Taiwanese mix of modernity and tradition has inspired me to make two documentaries. While working on TIGERWOMEN GROW WINGS the renowned writer Li Ang, one of the protagonist, introduced me to ghost stories. One part of the ghost mythology especially interested me: the female revenge ghost. Women are suddenly allowed to move freely in the world and exact retribution. The way we deal with the death of beloved people in Western countries is very sad: everyone mourns in loneliness, bottled-up with fear and guilt, whereas Taiwanese can express their emotions outwardly through collective rituals.
GHOSTED deals with the universal feeling of losing a beloved person. The story combines and mixes Eastern ghost mythology and motifs from German and Anglo-Saxon Romanticism. Our world is more homogenized and interconnected than ever before but at the same time it gives the appearance of individuality and cultural diversity. With GHOSTED I want to build a bridge between two worlds by showing the differences and similarities between them.
Detailed Credits
Sophie Schmitt: Inga Busch
Ai-Ling Chen: Huan-Ru Ke
Mei-Li Wang: Ting-Ting Hu
Katrin Bendersen: Jana Schulz
Leon: Marek Harloff
Uncle Chen Fu: Jack Kao
Ya-Ching: Yi-Ching Lu
Patrick: Kevin Chen
Patrick’s Father: Chian-Tze Liu
Patrick’s Mother: Yi-Ching Lu
Judy: Nai Wen Chang
Mysterious Man: Rong-Yu Wang
Mysterious Lady: Ru-Yun Tang
Voice of Zie-Tian: Cheng-Yi Yang
Mr. Jaspers: Michael Varnhorn
Mark: Sean McCormack
Mr. Hsie: Tzen-Ping Su
Mr. Lee: Nick Dong-Sik
Young Woman: Tina Wang
Business Woman: Hui-Ju Li
Guest 1: Manfred Geier
Guest 2: Christoph Heitmann
Assistant Director Bruno Grass
Intercultural Consultant Nai Wen Chang
Director of Photography Bernd Meiners
Assistant Camera Jörg Jahn
Chief Lighting Technician Gunter (Gandhi) Damm
Costume Designer Petra Kilian
Key Make-up Artist Fe Ferber
Line Producer Patrick Brandt
Unit Manager Christoph Heitmann
Production Coordinator Sonja Meyer
Office Manager Hyena Films Sabine Linz
Production Accountant Klaus Kraft
Assistant Accountant Konstantin Geisel
Producer Monika Treut
Co-Producers Li-Fen Chien, Aileen Li
Screenwriters Astrid Ströher, Monika Treut
Director Monika Treut
Crew Hamburg
Location Manager Marten Riese
Set Manager Marie Sorgenfrei
2nd Assistant Director Alexander Henneke
Script/Continuity Kerstin Wahrlich
Electrician Klaus Pirch
Still Photographer Baernd Fraatz
Production Design Isolde Ruter
Set Design Sabine Kasch
Property Master Meike Pauly
Property Assistant Laura Naschlenas
Swing Gang Gerald Gustav, Cine Bau
Stunt Co-Ordinator Rainer Werner
Make-up Assistant Britt Schaefer
Costume Assistant Diana Dietrich
Wardrobe Sa Yang
Recording Mixer Andreas Pitann
Boom Operator Thomas Ott
Crew Taiwan
Production Accountant Shu-Ling Chen
Line Producer Kids Hsu
Production Coordinator Shuwa Chang
Production Coordinator Tzu-Yi Chang
2nd Assistant Director Isadorna Huang
Script/Continuity Sonja Meyer
Electrician Sian-Jyue Jhang
Recording Mixer Chiao-Hao Yang
Boom Operator Shan-Jhih Chang
Production Design Cheng-Yi Yang
Set Design Assistants Shating Hsu
Hua Zi Fan
Jin-Siang Lai
Costume Assistant Joy Yen
Make-up Assistant Eva Wang
Production Assistants Garbo Ho
Fat-Cat Wu
Chuan-Yu Sun
Kay Wu
Mine Kazper Lee
Still Photographers Maggie Hu, Yu-Hsien Liao
Publicist Steven Tu
Graphic Artist Jeremi Chang-Chien
Editor Renate Ober
Assistant Editor Nana Novosad
Tape Transfers Thomas Bronner
Sound Design Uwe Haas
Music Composer Uwe Haas
Re-recording Mixers Pierre Brand, Uwe Haas
Recording Studio Primetime Studio Gmbh
Loft Tonstudios GmbH
Title Design Oliver Lammert, Madeleine Dewald
Translations
German/English Finbarr Morrin, Neil Saccamano
English/Chinese Chen Ting
Chinese/German Nai Wen Chang, Martina Hasse
Post Production Consultant Roland Musolff
HDTV Mastering & Colorgrading Chroma Film & TV GmbH
Colorist Oliver Schumacher
HD to Film Transfer The Film Republic GmbH
Translation Subtitles Tonike Traum, Colin Richardson
Subtitling Company Subs
Lab Taiwan Taipei Motion Picture Corp.
PR Doris Bandhold Filmpromotion
Making Of Chih-Tien Wang, Matthias Kahrs
Madeleine Dewald, Oliver Lammert,
Legal Services Christian Füllgraf
Tax Consultant StB Lehmann & Piekarek, Margret Stuhr
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