Bye Bye America

A road movie with a new twist, BYE BYE AMERICA centers on three winsomely naive characters in Brighton Beach, N.Y., all past the prime of life but full of dreams and expectations. Genovefa, a zaftig Polish cleaning lady; her husband Moshe, a diminutive Polish Jew; and their best friend Isaac, a sad-sack German Jew, board a Polish freighter for the old country. Their ensuing adventures, together and apart, make it clear that "home" is elusive: in America they are immigrants, in Berlin they are Jews, and in Poland they are Americans. Their warm reunion in Gdansk reveals the transforming power of any journey. Featuring cameo roles by Josh Mostel and Josh Kornbluth, who complete this charming comic ensemble.

From 2008 Festival: Director, Austria Jan Schütte studied Literature, Art History and Philosophy and began making movies in 1982. His first feature length film Dragon’s Chow (1987) premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Schütte went on to develop his unique vision in features such as Winckelmann’s Travels (which premiered at the 1990 Venice Film Festival) and Bye Bye America (which premiered at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival). Fat World was released by Polygram in 1998, his biopic of Bertold Brecht, The Farewell, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000. With Supertex (2003) Schütte directed a film based on a novel by Leon De Winter. Schütte has won numerous awards including the Premio Cinecritica at Venice and the Prix Franois Truffaut and his films have been released worldwide. Jan Schütte was a visiting professor at Harvard University from 2005-2006 and has been running the Master class Ludwigsburg-Paris, a program for young European producers, together with Peter Sehr since 2001. In 2002 Schütte, along with Martin Scorsese, Abbas Kiarostami and Tilda Swinton, was member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival. He currently lives in Berlin with his wife Cristina Szápáry and four children. DIRECTOR’S FILMOGRAPHY 2007 – LOVE COMES LATELY 2003 – SUPERTEX 2001 – OLD LOVE 2000 – THE FAREWELL 1998 – FAT WORLD 1995 – A VOYAGE INTO THE INNERMOST OF VIENNA 1994 – BYE BYE AMERICA 1991 – TO PATAGONIA 1990 – WINKELMANN’S TRAVELS 1988 – LOST IN AMERICA 1987 – DRAGON’S CHOW