TIL SCHWEIGER’s LONG JOURNEY HOME

German actor and director Til Schweiger was in Moscow April 14-16 for the Russian launch of his new film KRASAVCHIK 2 (aka ZWEIOHRKÜKEN), concluding his visit with an adventurous 32 hour non-stop road trip back to Berlin over the weekend, April 17-18. Due to the volcanic ash covering half of Europe and shutting down virtually all European airports, Til's return flight from Moscow on Saturday night was cancelled earlier that morning. Sitting in the Baltchug Kempinski hotel restaurant, the Gala Media and EEAP team set to work planning an alternate route back to Berlin for the international film star. The process involved about 20 people from several European countries and all possible travel options were considered via air, boat, car and train travel through St. Petersburg; Kiev; and even Istanbul with Til taking an active part.

It was finally decided to drive to the Latvian border with two cars, although even that was not easy. In Russia Saturday is "Wedding Day" and all limousines in Moscow were fully booked. Nevertheless, the Gala team managed to hire two cars directly from an earlier wedding to bring Schweiger and 4 other colleagues, Stefan Gärtner of ProSiebenSat.1, Lise Middleton and Alexander van Dülman of EEAP, and Tom Zickler, Til's partner and film producer, to the Russian/Latvian border. After loading all the luggage, including 4 bottles of wine bought in Red Square to provide sustenance along the way, the crew finally set-off at 17:00 from Moscow excited by the unexpected adventure ahead.

The journey passed without incident. However, Til and the gang were surprised to reach the Latvian border three hours earlier than expected due to the deft driving skills of the Russian drivers despite the rain and some rugged terrain, killing time in a truck-stop café until the appointed hour to meet their contacts on the Latvian side. By 3:00 am and in zero degree weather the five travelers bid farewell to Russia. They crossed the border on foot, dragging suitcases across the stretch of no-man's-land to the Latvian check-point where, after completing customs formalities, they were met by mini-van, organized by ACME's general director, Zilvinas Naujokas, to take our sleep-deprived heroes close to the Polish border, driving through Latvia and Lithuania as the sun was rising in the early hours of Sunday morning.

In Kaunas, the group was joined by another "hostage of the volcanic ash crisis," the former German Minister of Construction and Transport, Reinhard Klimt, who arrived by car with EEAP colleagues Suna Hassan and Jessica Nawarotzki, and continued eastward to St. Petersburg by train. The starry caravan took over the two cars driven from Berlin to complete the last leg of the twelve hour journey through the Polish countryside captured on video courtesy of radar cameras, reducing the average speed to 75 km across the country. By 11:00 pm Moscow time the 32-hour odyssey through Russia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland reached its successful conclusion in Prenzlauerberg, Berlin, where the weary but relieved travelers parted company and headed home.

Following the successful Russian launch in cinema of KRASAVCHIK 2 and invigorated by the adventure home, Til Schweiger and Tom Zickler documented their memorable journey over the weekend with videos and photos taken from their phones which will be made available as special bonus material on the upcoming DVD release of ZWEIOHRKÜKEN (aka KRASAVCHIK 2). Such a seemingly impossible journey was made possible by the full and immediate support of friends and colleagues to whom we are most humbly grateful.

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