Director: Erik Schmitt Run Time: 15 minutes Country: Germany

Synopsis: A man searching for the soul of a city encounters an enigmatic young woman who unlocks his heart.

How do you come up with an idea for a film like this?
I love to walk through the streets of Berlin and observe things, see things. And I have the feeling, that a lot of people are so used to their surroundings they can‘t really see it anymore. So that was one of the initial ideas for the film.

Why did you call the film Rhino Full Throttle? Why that title?
I think if you watch the film a couple of times, you might find an answer.

Marleen Lohse, the lead actress, is striking. Is she well known in Europe?
Yes. I think she is, like lead actor Tino Mewes, quite essential to the story. She has appeared in a number of German cinema and TV films.

The technique here is very innovative. How did that develop?
Over a long period of time. A friend of mine and me worked on a different set of analog film tricks, such as stop motion, pixilation, and playing with perspectives. It was a lot of fun, but my goal was to use these visual techniques to tell an emotional story.

The “soul of a city” concept resonates very well. How did you come to that notion?
It‘s simply something I like to believe in. And the more I got interested, the more literature I found, and that made it even more interesting.

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