disenchanted ? The creation of legends is another key element of the documentary . Erdnase is a perfect example for how people assign meaning to stories or persons , despite having very limited information about them . The viewers are encouraged to question what they believe to know about their own role models .
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
When director Hans-Joachim Brucherseifer was 14 years old , he knew nothing about the mystery surrounding S . W . Erdnase - but he did know one thing : He wanted to become a member of the Magic Circle in Germany . So , he picked up a book called " The Expert at the Card Table ”, studied hard for several years and used the knowledge to improve his sleight of hand techniques as well as his performance style to pass his entry exam . It wasn ' t until a few years later that he began to delve into the history of the book , which had allowed him to enter a new world and form many friendships . Then , during film school , all the pieces of the puzzle came together : He wanted to do what no one had dared to do before - create a documentary about S . W . Erdnase . The project " Looking for Erdnase " was born in 2017 . As part of his Bachelor ’ s thesis , Hans created a proof-of-concept scene ( the meeting between M . D . Smith and Erdnase ), but of course this was only supposed to be the beginning .
GATHERING A CREW
The movie project began to take shape : Starting with an almost ecstatic director who traveled to South Korea , Great Britain , Spain and France to talk to potential interviewees like Richard Turner ; through to a big film crew . The main actor Florian Beyer ( a . k . a . Yann Yuro ), a mentalist and actor , Hans already knew from the Magic Circle , was part of the project from the very beginning . In addition , the young production company Fourmat Film took on " Looking for Erdnase " as its first feature-length film project . A blessing for the historical scenes was the participation of costume and set designer Anna-Luisa Vieregge , who put all her knowledge , sweat and tears into the project . With a minimal budget she brought early 20th century America to 21st century Germany .
GETTING TO WORK
Director Hans-Joachim Brucherseifer and screenwriter Theresa Worm put at least two years of effort into researching . They then created the scripts for the reenactment scenes as well as a detailed concept and questionnaires for the documentary part . Armed with that , production was about to start … Or was it ?
THE STORY OF THE DENIED VISA