Birds Eye View - Hotel Very Welcome

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HOTEL VERY WELCOME + Director & Actor Q&A
(Sonja Heiss, Germany/Thailand 2007, 89’)

ICA CINEMA 1
Friday 14 March 6.30PM
UK PREMIERE

+ FREE entry to to our closing night party

"Sonja Heiss shows real promise for lightly comic, observational filmmaking." - Derek Elley, Variety

"A personal and humorous film about a restless generation" - Sueddeutsche Zeitung

Screening introduced by Sonja Heiss and Hotel Very Welcome star Chris O'Dowd (the IT crowd) with exclusive Q&A

Winner of the Dialogue en Perspective Special Mention at the Berlin Film Festival 2007, Sonja Heiss’ first feature is a funny and brilliant docu-style portrayal of 5 Westerners travelling across the well-trodden paths of Asia. Co-starring Brit comedy actor Chris O’Dowd as the chaotic Liam; gone AWOL in Goa to escape impending fatherhood back in Ireland. Two other Brits - Josh and Adam - amuse with sappy fall-outs in Thailand, German yoga-retreatist Marion reflects on life and relationships and Svenja attempts to escape her Bangkok hotel room. Hotel Very Welcome tests the finding yourself shibboleth with hilarious precision"

Born in 1976. Sonja Heiss studied at the Academy for Television and Film, Munich from 1998 until 2006. During her studies she directed the short films "Schnell und Sauber" (1999), "Karma Cowboy" (2002) and "Christina Without" (2004), ‘Hotel Very Welcome is her first feature film.

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Click here for a trailer.

Here's what BEV programmer Fiona Fletcher has to say:

"I can't get enough of HOTEL VERY WELCOME... Following the trials and tribs of 5 different westerners on their travels.. really and truly Chris O'Dowd having a nude fight with an unruly shower head in India should be enough to have you hooked... but it's also the brilliantly observered bickerings between brits-abroad Adam and Josh that are hillarious - their slow realisation that going on holiday with bezzy mates isn't all that it's cracked up to be. There's such truth in Heiss's first feature that's it's a little embarassing to watch at times - too many of us have been there - trying to make sense of a foreign land without sticking out like a sore thumb, full moon parties, dodgy lost in translation moments... However, Heiss also plucks from shared experience some really key essence in what travel means to us and why we sometimes just gotta go awol."