Private Project

Next Door

When Tom and his partner Marcel move into their first apartment together, he discovers a door to the neighbor's apartment that is simply standing open. All attempts to block the door fail. While Tom becomes increasingly afraid of what is lurking behind it, Marcel tries everything to play down the situation. Even when they realize that the man living on the other side is Adolf Hitler and makes no effort to leave them in peace.

  • Lukas März
    Director
  • Lukas März
    Writer
  • Lukas März
    Producer
  • Nathan Engelhardt
    Producer
  • Lea Grande
    Producer
  • Nils Thalmann
    Key Cast
  • Sebastian Fink
    Key Cast
  • Lars Krone
    Key Cast
  • Simone Oswald
    Key Cast
  • Leander Hartung
    DOP
  • Felix Nyncke
    Music
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Nebenan
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 39 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    October 24, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    6,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Country of Filming:
    Germany
  • Language:
    German
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    3:2
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - HFF München
  • Internationale Hofer Filmtage
    Hof
    Germany
    October 25, 2024
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Lukas März

Lukas März, born in 1993, is a screenwriter and director from Munich. After studying literature and theater studies in Germany and Italy, he became a screenwriting student at the University of Television and Film Munich from 2016-2022. He gained work experience as an assistant director at various theaters and as an intern in international series development at Studiocanal. Since 2020, he has been working as a freelance screenwriter for German and Austrian production companies, as well as a video director for Munich theaters and as a director of short films. His shorts “Deliverissimo” and “The Phone Booth” were screened at international festivals such as the Palm Springs Short Film Festival and won prizes such as the Audience Award at the Merlinka Queer Film Festival Belgrade. The queer multi-media revue “ERIK*A”, which he co-directed, won the Youth Award at the „Heidelberger Stückemarkt“ theatre festival in 2024.

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Director Statement

Next Door is a queer movie about the fear of right-wing extremism. To us, a horror film seemed to be the right form of expression to describe the feeling that increasingly creeps over many queer people: That the time when you could hope to one day live a boring, bourgeois life with your partner, like everyone else, could soon be over. That a door has been opened back into the past that can no longer be closed.

The most striking image that stood for this past for us was Adolf Hitler. That’s why he appears in this film in the role of the classic horror movie monster. Despite this basically comic premise, we wanted to try not to be a bit funny. So we decided to cast Hitler as himself, to deepfake him as far away as possible from any joke of an actor in costume.