Thomas Heinemann

Born 1958, Herrsching am Ammersee (Germany). At age 12 he wrote plays for the Children’s Theatre in Basel, Switzerland. In 1985 he founded the first German theatre in which children play the roles written for children. Then he worked with several directors, such as Werner Herzog. In 2007 he directed his first feature film, AHEAD IS PRETTY DAMN FAR (VORNE IST VERDAMMT WEIT WEG). Later he shot the documentary ON THE ROAD TO SOMEWHERE (UNTERWEGS NACH WOANDERS) and the TV series POSITIVE SINKING (2013). In 2013 he published his first young adult novel, PAULA AT THE PAPER MOUNTAINS (PAULA UND DIE NACHT IM PAPIERGEBIRGE).

Director’s statement

“What a great pleasure to have been invited to this festival. Giffoni, that’s like the Mostra for children’s films. And then Italy! Cinecittà, Paglia e Fieno, Fellini, Ossobuco, Vittorio De Sica, MV Agusta... all of it is still quite impressive”.
“But there’s yet another experience connecting me to Italy: when I was just seven years old, I was in Italy for the first time with my parents, somewhere at the Riviera. For me, it meant: to bed, right after supper. Indeed, very German, but what was I to do as a youngster?”.
“So there I was, alone in my hotel bed and naturally I couldn’t fall asleep. I could hear pleasant sounds outside, the hubbub and hustle of life, honking cars and... laughing children. Kids laughing, at 11 o’clock at night? And out to the balcony I rushed to see if it was true: I had to be in bed because that’s what German boys are supposed to do at that time of night: be in bed while beneath my balcony cheerful kids were playing and the grownups were sipping wine and laughing. That really impressed me deeply”.
“And today I am truly happy and a bit proud, too, to have been invited to Giffoni with LOLA ON THE PEA. This time around, I may stay up at least as late as the children in Italy”.