ZDF seems to be getting a taste for the Ore Mountains. However, the Ore Mountains in the current Christmas film “Ein Taxi zur Bescherung” with Dietmar Bär are not the real ones.
Movie. Don’t rub your eyes out if you watch the Christmas film “Ein Taxi zur Bescherung” on ZDF on Sunday and try to recognize where in the Ore Mountains this film is set! According to the plot, the taxi with a prominent cast – Dietmar Bär, known as the “crime scene” inspector, plays the taxi driver – drives to the Ore Mountains, where the taxi occupants, a blind IT analyst, a temporary waitress and the taxi driver himself, are stranded in an involuntary constellation and celebrate Christmas together at the Neunerlei. The pretty little town with the half-timbered structure that you see in the film and that is supposed to represent the town of Bergroda in the Ore Mountains cannot be recognized as being in the Ore Mountains: it’s fictitious and it wasn’t filmed in the Ore Mountains either.
This may be unfortunate for the region and Erzgebirge fans, but it is not uncommon in the film industry to shoot somewhere else than the plot suggests. So far so good. But why exactly was it not filmed in the Ore Mountains? After all, you know it differently: The “Erzgebirge thriller” also broadcast on ZDF – the new episode will be broadcast on December 21st – shoots in authentic locations.
The question of the reasons
In an interview with Dietmar Bär, which is available for journalists in the ZDF press portal, it is said that the film was shot in Wernigerode in the Harz Mountains. Dietmar Bär says that there – “because that was not technically possible” – the Ore Mountains are told. When the “Freie Presse” asked the employee responsible for communication in this case what the technical reasons were, the answer was: “The Christmas heart cinema road movie was shot in Wernigerode, among other places. The production company found all the conditions there, such as they were needed for the realization of our project.” But what are the exact technical reasons? The answer to repeated inquiries: “As already stated, we found good conditions at the Wernigerode location. These are the technical reasons for shooting.” Which conditions are involved and what are the specific technical reasons for shooting remain unanswered.
So why doesn’t the film take place in the Harz Mountains right away? Does the “Erzgebirge thriller” make filmmakers more aware of the Ore Mountains? Answer: “The Erzgebirge is very interesting and worth telling for creative people who deal with Christmas films because of its diverse Christmas customs and traditions.” And you shouldn’t compare a series like the “Erzgebirge thriller” with a 90-minute film. However, this answer does not reveal why either.
Saxony as a film country
Now there are industry experts who say that it is not easy to shoot films in the Ore Mountains, as there is no established film industry with the necessary trades, and the costs of bringing a production team to the location are generally increasing. A lot may be understandable, but not why the reasons are not clearly stated by a public broadcaster. Especially since there are other assessments from other institutions. “From my point of view, Saxony has long been a film country that should be taken seriously. And at least since the great response to the ‘Erzgebirge thrillers’, it has been known that there is also a beautiful backdrop for filming in the mountains in Saxony,” says Alexander Thies, chairman of the producer alliance and managing partner of the production company NFP. The Alliance of German Producers represents the interests of producers, including film and television works. “From my experience as a television producer who likes to shoot a lot in central Germany, the Harz Mountains and the Ore Mountains hardly differ from one another in terms of production conditions – they tend to add up in their positive media perception of both regions.” Both locations offer similar conditions and every shoot in Saxony and vice versa in Saxony-Anhalt draws even more attention to the entire region “and is therefore a reason to be happy because it confirms and at the same time increases the attractiveness of Central Germany as a production location”.
Even the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, which provides economic support for productions in the region, says that there are no general reasons against filming in the Ore Mountains or in Saxony – as can be seen from the “Erzgebirge thriller”. However, it could be the case, for example, that a production company prefers shorter distances from the location of the production company to the location due to sustainability criteria and therefore shoots somewhere else than the plot specifies.
Dirndl for Christmas
By the way, the taxi film is moderately entertaining. But he has good moments: He talks about various people, including the blind man and a couple over 40 without model dimensions. A pretty barkas and a number of traditions are also included. Whether people from the Erzgebirge find it authentic to sit at the table in a dirndl at Christmas and dance to pop songs during the Mettenschicht is another question.
The film “Ein Taxi zur Bescherung” will be broadcast on ZDF on Sunday, December 18 at 8:15 p.m. It can already be seen in the media library. » zdf.de