After the death of his grandmother, there is no one in the Ukrainian village who can take care of the 9-year-old Roman. His mother Oksana works as an illegal nurse in Germany. Hidden in a van, Roman follows her, but Oksana is not alone. She lives with the widower of the now deceased wife, Gert Schwarz. A dramatic love triangle begins, driven by dependence, love and jealousy.  Then Oksana suddenly falls ill and Gert takes her to a clinic without any papers. Afraid of the police, Schwarz flees with the child to a remote summer house. The two begin to carefully come to terms with each other. After teaching him to shoot with a rifle, Schwarz earns Roman’s suspicious affection. In the middle of a game, Schwarz suffers a stroke and dies. Roman is now alone with a corpse, in a deserted place, waiting for his mother to return.

Cast

Roman
Yelizar Nazarenko
Oksana
Maria Bruni
Schwarz
Udo Samel
Rivale - Still 1

Rival

Marcus Lenz

  • Fiction
Production Country / Year
Germany, Ukraine 2020
Language
de., uk. OF mit en. UT
Format
Color, 96min
2.39:1, Discrete 5.1
Original Title
Rivale

Director & Crew

Marcus Lenz

Born in 1969 in the Ruhr district. Studied Communication Design at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen and at the UIAH in Helsinki/Finland, followed by Film Studies at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin. Active as a director and screenwriter.

Filmography

1996

  • KOPF, Kurzfilm

1997

  • IMMER UND IMMER, Kurzfilm

1998

  • ALLES IST NIE, Kurzfilm

2001

  • DEUTSCHE ANGST, Spielfilm

2004

  • CLOSE, Spielfilm

2020

  • RIVALE, Spielfilm  HOF 2020
Writer
Marcus Lenz
Lars Hubrich
Director of Photography
Frank Amann
Editor
Hansjörg Weißbrich
Bernd Euscher
Production Designer
Beatrice Schultz
Costume Designer
Stefanie Jauss
Yulia Mukhoid
Casting Director
Valeria Ruban
Britt Beyer
Sound
Oleksandr Shatkovskyi
Sound Designer
Jonathan Ritzel
Music Composer
Evguenij Galperin
Caroline Siegers
Make-up
Lena Andreytseva
TV Commissioning Editor
Ingrid Gränz
Co-Producer
Marina Orekhove
Patrick Waldmann
Producer
Gunter Hanfgarn
Andrea Ufer

News

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