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Touch Me Not (2018)

Touch Me Not (2018)

123 min. - Drama - 18+ - 15.03.2018

Synopsis:

A personal exploration about intimacy, about the human longing and yet inability to touch and be touched, to make contact.

Director: Adina Pintilie

Writer: Adina Pintilie

Stars: Laura Benson, Tómas Lemarquis, Christian Bayerlein, Grit Uhlemann, Hanna Hofmann, Adina Pintilie


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Casting:

Touch Me Not (2018) Laura Benson Laura
Touch Me Not (2018) Tómas Lemarquis Tudor
Touch Me Not (2018) Christian Bayerlein Christian
Browse the entire cast and crew

Produced By

Co-production Romania-Deutchland-Czech Republic-Bulgarie-France
Manekino Film, 4 Proof Film, Agitprop, Les Films de L'Etranger, Rohfilm
Cu sprijinul Romanian Film Center, Eurimages, Mitteldeutsche Medienforderung, TorinoFilmLab, Czech Film Fund, Bulgarian National Film Center, Eurometropole de Strasbourg
with HBO, TVR
with support of Sensiblu, Christian Tour
in collaboration with The Post Republic Studio Bystrouska 

Production info

Estimated Budget - 1 million euro
The project won at the CNC contest, December 2012 session, fiction feature debut, a credit of 700,000 lei.
Selected in Atelier CINEFONDATION-Cannes Film Festival 2012, was awarded MEDIA DEVELOPMENT funding, being the best European project in the Fiction Single Project category, received production support from the Romanian Film Fund, being the best debut project, was developed within BINGER Filmlab Amsterdam (Directors Lab 2011 and Writers Lab 2009/2010) and NIPKOW PROGRAM Berlin 2011.

Distributors

Doc & Film International

Festivals, Awards

  1. 2016 - Sarajevo - Cinelink Post Republic Award la secțiunea Works in Progress
    2018 - Berlinale - Golden Bear & Best First Feature
    2018 - Transilvania IFF - Special Mention from the Romanian Days jury
    2019 - UCIN - Special Prize of the Jury
    2020 - Gopo Awards - Best First Feature

Storyline

”Laura works for years in the same mannequin factory. She peeps at other people’s intimate life, while hers doesn’t seem to function. She pays to be touched, hiring young boys to create an illusion of intimacy. Tudor is an actor who earns his living as a masseur. He wants a woman who rejects his attempts at making contact. He stalks her, finding a compensatory way to touch her through objects, places she’s touched. Paul is an actor too, caught in a dysfunctional relationship. In the background, a “miracle” story develops, first as a TV news piece, that gradually enters the characters’ lives: in the outskirts, a simple uneducated man discovers he has a “gift”- when he touches people, he cures them, removing any illness. The Suburban Saint phenomenon grows, between irony and worship. As when he touches he gives a lot, the Saint starts losing more and more weight, until he falls ill. Street fights begin in the long lines of people waiting to be cured in front of his building, all desperate to get to him before he dies.
Laura witnesses an interactive show performed by Paul and Tudor. Fascinated by them, she keeps coming back at the performance. She gradually becomes a silent witness of their lives, their solitary longing deeply resonating with her own. In this mirroring process, the walls Laura so skilfully built around her slowly collapse under the flow of her repressed feelings.
Finally, Laura finds herself in the long line of people in front of the Suburban Saint’s flat. When she finally enters, she finds an exhausted and sick man. As he is about to touch her, blood pours from his nose and he collapses. Laura helps him up, cleans his face. Unable to move or speak, he surrenders to her caring hands. In the end he falls asleep. Laura stays there watching over him.”

Trivia

  • 2011, ARTE Cinema - Award for the most promising project
  • 2011, Cinemart Coproduction Market at Rotterdam - Award for the most promising project
  • 2011, Torino Film Lab Framework - Production Award
  • 2016, Sarajevo - Cinelink Post Republic Award
  • Variety.com about Touch Me Not.
The New York Times„Tulburător de intens, imposibil de uitat... Corpul ca un tărâm misterios”.
The Hollywood Reporter: „Un tur de forță captivant. O explorare a sexualității care deschide noi orizonturi”.
Les Inrockuptibles„Un film cum nu ați mai văzut... Cinema-ul ca experiență terapeutică”.
Indiewire: „De un umanism radical... imposibil de clasificat”.
Libération: „Redescoperă ce înseamnă frumusețea!”
Sight & Sound: „De un curaj extraordinar. O celebrare a sexualității, cu curiozitate și deschidere”.
Die Zeit: „O nesfârșită inițiere în atingere... Noi înșine, privitorii, devenim participanți în acest proces de căutare interioară”
Stephanie Zacharek from Time Magazine: „Un dar incredibil. Un film superb, cu totul neconvențional, despre conexiunea umană”.
Kino Zeit: „Intim, profund... Nu e doar un film, e o călătorie de auto-cunoaștere”.
La Vanguardia„Fascinant, radical, inovativ... O abordare revoluționară a adevăratei naturi a sexualității”.
Criterion: „una dintre marile descoperiri ale anului”.
Télérama: „îți pune la încercare limitele și tabuurile”.
Die Welt: „Cei care vor avea curajul să-l trăiască până la capăt vor fi răsplătiți cu o nouă perspectivă asupra lumii”.

Articles

“Touch Me Not”/”Nu mă atinge-mă”, directed by Adina Pintilie, selected at the Berlinale 2018
“Touch Me Not”, by Adina Pintilie wins Berlin`s Golden Bear
TIFF 2018 – World premieres and debuts at the Romanian Days
”Touch Me Not / Nu mă atinge-mă”, de Adina Pintilie, sold-out la TIFF din primele zile
The 2018 TIFF Awards
Romanian Films in Competition at Sarajevo IFF 2018
​Nu mă recunoaște-mă!  - Doru Pop
Premiere româneşti la Festivalul de Film de la Wrocław
The Romanian Films Presented at the Jerusalem Film Festival
Debate “Touch Me Not – The Body as a Gift”, at Dok Leipzig
„Touch me not” and „Pororoca”, two proposals for a nomination for the European Film Awards
“TOUCH ME NOT” at the 2018 European Film Academy Awards
Dezbatere „Touch Me Not – The Politics of the Body”, la MoMA
Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest: Avanpremieră ”Touch Me Not”, de Adina Pintilie  - Dana Medar
„Touch Me Not – Politicile Corpului”, masterclass despre strategii de distribuție la Berlinale
Proiecție și dezbatere „Politicile corpului – Touch Me Not”, la Timișoara
“Touch Me Not”, on the Big Screens, Starting with March 15, 2019
Începe turneul național de dezbateri „Touch Me Not – Politicile corpului”
Adina Pintilie about the “Touch Me Not” Screenings Accompanied by Debates
Adina Pintilie rupe barierele filmului tradițional  - Dana Medar
Conferința de presă ”Touch Me Not”: Turneul național de proiecții cu dezbateri  - Dana Medar
Dezbatere „Touch Me Not – Politicile corpului”, cu Adina Pintilie  - Dana Medar
Ce spun vedetele despre „Touch Me Not”
Programul Cinematecii Române în luna mai
The Romanian Filmmakers Union Awards 2019
“Touch Me Not”, Distributed in Spain
Prezențe românești la Festivalul „Nowe Horyzonty” de la Wrocław
Turneul educațional de dezbateri „Touch Me Not – Politicile corpului”
„Touch Me Not – Politicile corpului”, la București, pe 3 și 8 octombrie 2019
“La Gomera”, “Heidi”, “Monster.”, “Parking” and “Touch Me Not” – Most Nominated Films at Gopo
Nominalizările Premiilor Radio România Cultural 2020
“La Gomera”, the big winner of the 2020 Gopo Awards
Pustnik a ales 8 rezidenți finaliști pentru cea de-a 6-a ediție
13 filme românești, într-o secțiune specială dedicată României, la Festivalul de Film Opolskie Lamy
Romanian participations at the Nowe Horyzonty International Film Festival in Wrocław
Adina Pintilie, membră în juriul internațional al Berlinalei 2021

Website

https://www.facebook.com/Touch-Me-Not-708466252613618/
Touch Me Not (2018) - Photo