Once Upon a Time in Northern Frankenburg

Once Upon a Time in Northern Frankenburg Es war einmal in Nordfrankenburg
English language movie poster
Directed by	Peter Brücken
Screenplay by	Jakob Mechtermann
Produced by	Michael Behrstedt
Starring	Marc Weinreich Anton Scherpe Susanne Sauer
Distributed by	Bincent Film
Release date	August 14, 2023
Running time	1h 38min
Country	Besmenia
Language	Besmenian
Budget	BS 23,9 million

Once Upon a Time in Northern Frankenburg (Besmenian: Es war einmal in Nordfrankenburg) is a 2023 Besmenian adult computer-animated black comedy film directed by Peter Brücken and produced by Michael Behrstedt. Set in 1986, the film follows the life of 16-year-old Oliver in post-fascist Frankenburg in a satirical and exaggerated way. The film also pokes fun at 1980s Besmenian culture and the Beiter era.

Plot

In 1986, 16-year-old Oliver Reißmann lives with his grandfather Helmut, after his mother died giving birth and his father left before he was born, in the fictional town of Frida-Ochsenbein-Stadt in northern Frankenburg. A small town named after Frida Ochsenbein, the daughter of the former West Besmenian dictator Karl Ochsenbein in 1929, the daughter of the former West Besmenian dictator Karl Ochsenbein, and whose renaming to the original town name failed in 1967. The small town is also right next to the then closed and guarded Besmenia-Palingia border. The residents of the town are used to life on the dangerous state border. Some are even betting money on whether the Palingian refugees will make it across the border or die in the process. The residents of Frida-Ochsenbein-Stadt include, among others the policeman Althaus, who is a chain-smoking tyrant and the school janitor Rumelhof, a racist fanatic of the former Besmenian Empire, who constantly claims that he plans to go to Laitstadt and start a coup d'état there with "some friends", which no one in the town believes, because in their opinion Rumelhof would be too weak for a coup d'etat.

Oliver and his friend David enjoy movies, cassette tapes, and other pop culture yet have little luck with the local girls. While Oliver doesn't want to be a virgin, David is dying to be popular. When the two of them listen to music one day, David brings some nude magazines he stole from his older brother and both are fascinated by the nude women. The policeman Althaus, approaches them and confiscates the nude magazines. Oliver then spies the beautiful Sabrina coming out of her apartment building and we find he is madly in love with her. Later, at a disco, Oliver tries to dance with Sabrina, but she brushes him off and only has eyes for the handsome and arrogant 19-year-old Alexander, who everyone thinks is rich because he always drives different cars. Alexander goes with Sabrina to eastern Palingia to swim at a lake after the disco.

The next day at school, a classmate draws a caricature of the class teacher on the blackboard. Oliver, who has been to the toilet in the meantime, is accused by the class teacher of having drawn the caricature because of an accident. As punishment, he has to stay in detention, where, to his surprise, Sabrina is also staying, who insulted a teacher because of her relationship with Alexander. In detention, the two grow closer, where Sabrina also tells Oliver that Alexander sometimes treats her unfairly. After the detention Sabrina gives Oliver her phone number. While visiting a black market, Oliver tells David about his luck with Sabrina. David shows interest in a foreign bootleg VHS of Helmut Rommel's The Happy Cannibal Adventure on the black market for 300 schillings, which he cannot afford. That night, a classmate of Oliver and David hosts a party at his parents' house, as they are gone for the weekend. Fueled by drugs, the party becomes raucous. Sabrina arrives to the chaotic party, and leaves after encountering a stoned Oliver, who claims that he has written many diaries about his feelings toward her. Dejected, Oliver goes home, where his grandfather advises him never to give up and to try everything.

A few days later, Oliver sees Sabrina, who to his surprise forgot his appearance at the house party and is still showing interest in him. Sabrina also reminds him that he promised to let her read his diaries. Caught in his lie, Oliver goes home and begins writing diaries of the past few years. As it gets dark, David goes back to the black market and uses the money he has worked so hard to buy the bootleg VHS of The Happy Cannibal Adventure. At the same time, a border guard falls asleep in the watchtower on the Besmenia-Palingia border, which is located directly near Frida-Ochsenbein-Stadt in Oliver and David's residential area. As he falls asleep, he accidentally hits a cup of coffee on an extension cord, causing all electricity to go out in western Frida-Ochsenbein-Stadt. Chaos reigns in the city as the residents believe they are being attacked by Palingia. Meanwhile, David is still on his way home, walking along the Besmenia-Palingia border. When the border guard wakes up and sees the chaos, he turns on the emergency light at the border, where he spots David, believing he is a Palingian who fled across the border to Besmenia. When he asks him to come back and David starts to run home, he is shot by the border guard. At first David appears dead, but as a crowd gathers it turns out that the VHS of The Happy Cannibal Adventure he is carrying stopped the bullet. Discovering the VHS has been destroyed by the bullet, he is heartbroken. The news that a Palingian border guard nearly killed an innocent Besmenian youth is making headlines worldwide. As a result, David becomes well known and popular at the school.

When Oliver is done with the alleged diaries, he goes to Sabrina's house and hands her the diaries while Alexander waits for Sabrina outside in his car, growing impatient. As he opens his car door, he throws David off his bike and, fearing legal repercussions if injured, gives David 300 schillings to convince him not to tell anyone. While Oliver and Sabrina share an intimate moment, Alexander is stopped at the Besmenia-Palingia border, where the border guards discover various dangerous weapons and guns in his trunk. As border guards point guns in his face, he swears he really didn't know and reveals his cars came from the restaurant where he works as a valet. Alexander is mistaken for a terroist and is sent to a Palingian labor camp. At the same time, Rumelhof comes out of the restaurant where Alexander works as a valet and finds that his car, which he was about to drive to Laitstadt, has disappeared and it turns out that the car with which Alexander was arrested belonged to Rumelhof.

The same evening that Oliver is at home and arranges a date with Sabrina over the phone, David comes by who has bought a new bootleg VHS of The Happy Cannibal Adventure with his 300 schillings. David is devastated when he realizes that it is the wrong VHS and that it is a home movie instead of Helmut Rommel's film. Shortly when Oliver wants to turn the TV off again, they both notice two half-naked women in the film and it turns out that the VHS is home-made Palingian lesbian porn. The film ends with Oliver and David watching the porn amazed and excited.

A post-credits scene shows Alexander doing sewing work as a prisoner in the Palingian labor camp in 1987.

Voice cast

• Marc Weinreich as Oliver Reißmann
• Anton Scherpe as David Weber
• Susanne Sauer as Sabrina Kleininger
• Johannes Winkler as Helmut Reißmann
• Michael Grünbacher as Policeman Althaus
• Wolfgang Ritzer as Rumelhof
• Anton Höfling as Alexander Böcker

Production

The film music was composed by Bernhard Leiber, who created songs and pieces of music that could have come from the 1980s. Some real music tracks from the 1980s were also used in the film.

Cultural references

• In the film, everyday objects often appear with a picture or a lettering of the then Premier Martin Beiter. This is a reference to the FBBP's campaign from the 1985 Besmenian federal election, where the party campaigned with postcards, bumper stickers, and matches featuring Martin Beiter, among other things.
• Then running Besmenian television series such as the sitcom Married with a Married Couple (1985-1995) or the children's program Lachschein (1981-2003) are mentioned in the film. Johannes Winkler, who played the character of Jörg Ludwig in Married with a Married Couple, also voices Oliver's grandfather in the film.
• The film The Happy Cannibal Adventure by director Helmut Rommel, which was released in 1969, was banned in Besmenia itself from 1970 to 1999.

Release and reception

The premiere took place on August 14, 2023 in the Besmenian cinemas.

Awards

[[97th Tofino Festival]

• Best Animated Feature
• Best Director
• Best Supporting Actress

2024 Besmenian Film Award

• Best Director
• Most popular film