Zero Killed

Documentary/Fiction • Austria/Germany 2011 • 81 min

In this provocative hybrid of documentary and fiction, ordinary people reenact their darkest murder fantasies—then confront the ethical, emotional, and political implications behind them.

www.zero-killed.com

Trailer

Synopsis

DO YOU HAVE MURDER FANTASIES?

Since 1996 film director Michal Kosakowski has been asking people with different backgrounds about their murder fantasies. He offered them the chance to stage their fantasies as short films. The only condition was that they had to act in these films themselves, either as victims or perpetrators. More than a decade later, Kosakowski met these people again to ask them about their emotions during their acts of murder or victimization, and interviewed them about current social topics such as revenge, torture, war, terrorism, media, domestic violence, the death penalty, suicide etc.

If someone murdered a person you love, how would you feel about it? Should torture be legalized? Are soldiers murderers? How to define good and evil? Their replies are juxtaposed with the short films based on these ‘non-criminal’ fantasies made accessible to viewers. Simultaneously, the participants’ respective replies help viewers to get better acquainted with them and their highly diverse social and professional backgrounds. It is the banality of their acts that frightens us so badly, their stabbing of innocent people, their orgiastic throttling of marriage partners or their random shooting of unsuspecting visitors to exhibitions.

‘Zero Killed’ takes the issue one step further: the film deciphers common clichés and patterns of visual violence with the aid of the protagonists’ immediate and direct comments.

The result is an unconventional hybrid of feature film and documentary that makes viewers question their personal and social positions concerning ethical and moral values and taboos.

Streaming on

On Demand

Film Stills

Credits

Written and directed by Michal Kosakowski
Music composed by Paolo Marzocchi
Director of photography Michal Kosakowski
Edited by Michal Kosakowski | Claudia Engl
Sound design Tatjana Jakob
Production design Michal Kosakowski | Heli Leitner
Creative collaboration Uli Aigner | Claudia Engl
Produced by Michal Kosakowski
Associate producer Stephan Herzog
Executive producers Claudia Engl | Uli Aigner
Additional photography Claudia Engl | Lucas Vossoughi
Assistant camera Heli Leitner | Evelyn Eberhardt
Light and sound Michal Kosakowski
Makeup artist and special effects Daniela Schibalsky | Michal Kosakowski
Costume designer Elżbieta Kosakowska

Music produced and recorded at MusicaPesante Creative Lab, Pesaro
Music orchestrated by Paolo Marzocchi
Music assistant Chiara Galli
Score assistant Danilo Comitini
Additional electronic sounds Stefano Sasso

Music performed by
Baroque cello Alessandro Culiani
Cello Alfredo Mola
Viola Michele Vagnini
Violone Alessandro Marzocchi
Saxophones Massimo Valentini
Flute Eugenia Tonelli
Oboe and english horn Ilaria de Maximy
Clarinets Marco Messa
Voices and choir Laura Avanzolini
Piano and whistle Paolo Marzocchi
Glass harp Robert Tiso
Sopranist Angelo Bonazzoli
With the special participation of the soprano Helga Karr
Sound engineers Paolo Marzocchi | Stefano Sasso

Sound postproduction Studio Funk Berlin | Postperfect Vision & Sound
Supervising sound editor Tatjana Jakob
Sound effects editor Rainer Heesch
Foley artist Jörg Klinkenberg
Foley recordist Christoph Oertel
Sound re-recording mixer Tatjana Jakob | André König
Cinema mastering Ralph Thiekötter
Postproduction sound supervisor Olaf Mierau

Digital postproduction Optical Art Film & Special Effects
Head of production Christian Burgdorff
Project management Benjamin Wüpper
DI supervisor Frank Hellmann
Color grading Ronney Afortu (bvk)
Mastering Stefan Tänzler | Achim Schwald

Postproduction Michal Kosakowski Films | c.en arts Filmproduction
Digital effects Michael Lung | Claudia Engl | Michal Kosakowski
Title design and production Rafał Kosakowski

Translation Richard Maréchal
Language consultant Goran Mimica | Therese Davies
Legal services provided by Beate Kehrl | Gernot Piwernetz
Production manager Michal Kosakowski
Production assistant Claudia Engl

Co-director of short story ‘Lust, Pride and Sloth’ Lucas Vossoughi

PARTICIPANTS