Internationally, German actor Fabian Busch is best known for his roles in films such as Hans-Christian Schmid’s 23 (1998), playing opposite August Diehl; Oliver Hirschspiegel’s Academy Award-nominated film THE DOWNFALL (DER UNTERGANG, 2004); and, most-recently, Busch played alongside Kate Winslet in Stephen Daldry’s Oscar winner, THE READER (2008). Besides an impressive list of feature films and television roles, Busch recently added some further credits to his name. Last year, he wrote and directed the short film EDGAR, demonstrating his skills, not just in-front, but also behind-the-camera.
Edgar (Wilfried Dzallas) is lonely, sad, and desperate for something to do; anything to get him out of his house: an empty and gloomy place ever since he retired and his wife passed away. One day, just to kill some time, Edgar enters the local department store, looks around, and finally musters up the courage to ask the sales-assistant for a job.
Although seemingly touched by Edgar’s story, the assistant turns him down. Dejected, Edgar leaves the store and, in his depressed state, walks out with unpaid merchandise. The store’s detective catches this unintentional theft and reprimands Edgar, who learns that the theft, instead of yielding prison time, is punished with work. And with this new insight, nothing will stop Edgar…. 
Told in clear and concise images with just the right amount of dialogue to set the scene and tell it all, Fabian Busch’s debut is a moving short film that starts on a sad note but comes full circle to end on a high one.
EDGAR premiered at last year’s Locarno Film Festival in the Leopards of Tomorrow International Competition and was awarded with a special mention. Since then, this short has been on a roll and won numerous additional awards, including the prestigious Certificate of Exceptional Merit from Germany’s FILMBEWERTUNGSSTELLE in Wiesbaden, the national film evaluation agency. The North American premiere of Bush’s short at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival is just the first step on EDGARS journey across the U.S.
Produced by the Mainz-based production company KONTRASTFILM, Busch and his producer Tidi von Tiedemann are currently working on a feature length project. Watch-out for more to come from this talented actor-turned-director.
For more information on EDGAR, please visit: www.kontrastfilm.de/edgar/
