Modell Olimpia in its entirety was filmed in the Rhine-Main region, mostly in Wiesbaden. The apartment, one of the main settings, in Bierstadt, and the Dernsche Gelände is also prominently featured. Almost the entire crew is from the region. Post-production was supported by the Kulturstiftung Rheinland-Pfalz. The film was finished in fall of 2020 and celebrated its premiere at the Tallin Black Nights Filmfestival 2020. It was nominated as the best debut film. Afterwards it was presented at Molodist Film Festival Kyiv, the Fantaspoa International Fantastic Film Festival in Porto Alegre, the Filmz Festival Mainz and the Hofer Filmtage. In April 2020 it was be featured at Filmfest Bremen.

About the director

Modell Olimpia is Frédéric Hambalek’s feature film debut. He also wrote the screenplay. Hambalek, born 1986 in Karlsruhe, studied film studies and American studies in Mainz. Since then, he has been making short films (“Bergfieber“) that successfully played festivals and writes screenplays.

Press Reviews

"First-time feature director Frédéric Hambalek’s unflinching, unsensational take on material which takes a dark turn in the final act positions this film firmly at the more demanding end of the arthouse spectrum (...) this is filmmaking which shares a kinship with directors like Markus Schleinzer or Michael Haneke." (Screendaily)

"In different hands the film may come across as overly crass or even misogynistic, but Modell Olimpia is so matter-of-fact in its presentation it can be interpreted in multiple ways. This is stressed by the lack of a score, which provides the audience little guidance of how to feel. In fact, the most unsettling thing is not knowing what to feel rather than simply having a strong reaction one way or another." (dmovies)