Instant Lunatic
Filmfest 2015
(Mollath - Und plötzlich bist du verrückt)
Germany 2015
Original version with English subtitles
(Original: German)
World Premiere
Director: Leonie Stade, Annika Blendl
Section: New German Cinema
Gustl Mollath was tried for fabricating lies concerning his wife’s tax evasion and money laundering at a major German bank. He was declared insane by the court and committed to a high security psychiatric hospital, supposedly because he was a danger to the public. Seven years later he was acquitted. The episode is considered one of the greatest judicial scandals in post-war Germany. Filmmakers Annika Blendl and Leonie Stade go behind the headlines and media hype to uncover the truth regarding the man caught in a web of intrigue involving politics and corruption. The film accompanies Mollath after his release, examines the facts and shows his struggle to clear his name. Victim and/or hero? A one-time miscarriage of justice or is the system to blame? And then there are those who want to use him for their own political purposes. INSTANT LUNATIC poses questions that are vital to every free society.
With: (Dokumentarfilm) Gustl Mollath, Gerhard Strate, Otto Lapp, Beate Lakotta
Credits
Screenplay: Leonie Stade, Annika Blendl, Oliver Kahl
Director of Photography: Eugen Gritschneder
Film Editor: Nina Ergang
Composer: Jochen Schmitt-Hambrock
Producer: Leonie Stade, Annika Blendl, Michael Schmitt
Production Company: Man on Mars Filmproduktion
Co-Production Company: Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film (HFF München)
Distributor: Zorro Film GmbH
Director: Leonie Stade, Annika Blendl
