Otto; or, up with Dead People

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A young zombie named Otto appears on a remote highway. He has no idea where he came from or where he is going. After hitching a ride to Berlin and nesting in an abandoned amusement park, he begins to explore the city. Soon he is discovered by underground filmmaker Medea Yarn, who begins to make a documentary about him with the support of her girlfriend, Hella Bent, and her brother Adolf, who operates the camera.
Meanwhile, Medea is trying to finish “Up with Dead People,” the epic political-porno-zombie movie that she has been working on for years. She convinces its star, Fritz Fritze, to allow the vulnerable Otto to stay in his guest bedroom. When Otto discovers that there is a wallet in his back pocket that contains information about his past, before he was dead, he begins to remember a few details, including memories of his ex-boyfriend, Rudolf. He arranges to meet him at the schoolyard where they met, with devastating results.

details

  • Runtime

    94 min
  • Country

    Canada, Germany
  • Year of Presentation

    2008
  • Year of Production

    2007
  • Director

    Bruce LaBruce
  • Cast

    Jey Crisfar, Katharina Klewinghaus, Susanne Sachsse, Christophe Chemin, Guido Sommer, Gio Black Peter, Jürgen Seipel, Stefan Kuschner, Nicholas Fox Ricciardi, Keith Boehm, Olivia Barth, Stefanie Heinrich, John Edward Heys, Max Di Costanzo, Orion Zombie
  • Production Company

    Jürgen Brüning Filmproduktion
  • Berlinale Section

    Panorama
  • Berlinale Category

    Feature Film

Biography Bruce LaBruce

Born 1964 in Southampton, Canada. He attended film school in Toronto and studied film theory at York University. His film Hustler White was screened in 1996 in the Panorama and became his first international success. He has been a guest of the Berlinale several times, most recently in 2014 at Forum Expanded with Pierrot Lunaire, for which he won the Teddy Award. He has also directed numerous music videos and plays, writes and photographs for international magazines, newspapers and websites. As an artist, he has been represented in numerous international exhibitions.

Filmography Bruce LaBruce

2004 The Raspberry Reich | 2010 L.A. Zombie | 2013 Geron

Biography John Edward Heys

Born and raised in New Jersey in the US, he later moved to Miami Beach, and then returned to New Jersey. In 1969 he founded the American newspaper Gay Power and, a year later, embarked on an acting career. He has appeared in several one-man performance pieces and has made eleven films to date. He is currently a resident of Berlin and Brandenburg.