Ekaterina Molchanova was awarded as "Best Actress" at the German Independent Days|International Filmfest for the film "Benzin".
The film by director and screenwriter "Benzin" Oliver Moore won in two nominations - "Best Actress" and "Best Actor". Ekaterina Molchanova shared that the awards for both actors were the first in their careers.
Kateryna Molchanova is a Ukrainian TV and film actress. During her school years she studied in a theater studio, however, she graduated from the University at Business and Management Department. After moving to Kyiv, she attended the theater institute as a free listener. In 2013 she starred in Nana Giorgadze's film "My Mermaid, My Laurel", in 2017 she was nominated for the Golden Spinner Award in the nomination "Best Actress" for her role in the film "My Grandmother Fanny Kaplan". In the autumn of 2020, Roman Balayan's film “We Are. We are close , in which Kateryna played the main role.
Country: Germany 2019
Language: Deutsch mit engl.
Director: Oliver Mohr
Cast: Bela Gabor Lenz, Kate Molchanova, Frederick von Lüttichau
30 years after the reunification of Germany there are still some villages in the East, where just a few people didn’t leave their home. Leon’s mother left, long time ago. But he is still here, with his dad, who runs a gas station close to the border to Poland. Nobody fuels there. Nothing happens. Nobody talks about the past. When suddenly a young woman from Ukraine appears, things change. She came to work for a rich family, which visits the village once in a while. Leon feels that she can help him to find peace with his unknown past.
Director Biography - Oliver Mohr
Oliver Mohr was born 1989 in the south of Germany and grew up in Oregon and a small town in Western Germany. Now he lives and works in Berlin, Munich and Cologne. 2010 he started at the Munich Filmschool (HFF München) and did his first steps with commercials, which won a lot of awards. "Benzin" is his first feature and his graduation movie from filmschool.
Director Statement
I was always fascinated about characters and what happens if they meet. About different perspectives on a special topic. In this movie, everything is about the question of staying or leaving. Holding on or letting go. Leaving your family, cause you are not happy, leaving your home, cause there is no future. But also of letting go an idea. Those dynamics of missing something or each other, those phenomena about hiding in the past or the future, because the characters are not able to deal with the present are the main aspects, I wanted to work on. Especially in the context of the political and social background of this small and forgotten village, the story is told in. - one day there will be no more gasoline ("Benzin") - either you stop moving or you think about change.
Shooting process:
