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Autumn Gold

Jan Tenhaven
‘Autumn Gold’ tells the life-affirming stories of five senior athletes who all have one goal: to take part in the track and field section of the World Masters Championships 2009 in Finland.

The biggest challenge they face is their age: all five athletes are between 82 and 100 years old. ‘These five individuals are in a defiant race against time and throw a very ‘YES-to-life’ light on growing old in various countries. How do these senior citizens deal with everyday life? What roles do love and sexuality play? What does society think of them? Why is sport so important to them? How do they deal with the onset of frailty? ‘Herbstgold’ is a film about life, about losers and winners, of setbacks and triumphs, and maybe about death. Who will mount the podium at the end? Who will make a dignified withdrawal? Who will fight bitterly to the end – in the contest of life?’ Jan

Jan Tenhaven

Jan Tenhaven is a freelance writer and director for German public television and a lecturer at the Electronic Media School in Potsdam-Babelsberg. He started his journalistic career as a reporter and freelance writer for the daily newspaper WAZ and the weekly paper DIE ZEIT, as well as on the editorial staff of various German broadcasters. From 1998 to 2001 Tenhaven was a television correspondent and bureau chief of APM Media in London and a director for London International Television (LITV). He has been making documentaries for fifteen years. Besides ‘Autumn Gold’, his latest projects include the documentary ‘Why We Buy’ and ‘The War in Me’.

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Herbstgold

Germany, Austria
2010, 94', color, 35 mm

Directed by:
Jan Tenhaven

Screenplay by:
Jan Tenhaven

Cinematography:
Markus Winterbauer, Martin Langner

Edited by:
Jürgen Winkelblech

Music:
Andy Baum

Producer:
Christian Beetz

Produced by:
Gebrüder Beetz Filmproduktion, Navigator Film