Produced by Christian Becker of Rat Pack films and co-produced by Martin Moszkowicz of Constantin Film, The Wave tells the story of a high school teacher, played by Jurgen Vogel, who comes up with an experiment to explain to his students how totalitarian governments work.
Within a few days, what began as a harmless role-playing game builds into a real movement where conflict erupts into violence. The film is based on a short story by Ron Jones which is itself based on an experiment conducted when the author was a history teacher in California in 1967.
Celluloid President Hengameh Panahi said: 'I'm delighted to be continuing our relationship with Constantin Film beginning with Elementary Particles two years ago and continuing with Dennis Gansel's The Wave and also with Caroline Link's forthcoming Aftermath. We're extremely excited to be representing Dennis' movie in Sundance which functions perfectly as a gripping thriller whilst being, at the same time, a thought provoking and profound study of human nature.'
The Wave increases Celluloid's Sundance slate to six, including two Celluloid Dreams productions: Michael Haneke's English-language remake of Funny Games starring Naomi Watts and Tim Roth - which is screening in Midnight - and Savage Grace by Tom Kalin starring Julianne Moore - in the Premieres section. Other films on the slate are Alan Ball's Towelhead (also in Premieres), Steven Sebring's Patti Smith: Dream of Life in the documentary competition and the animated Fear(s) of the Dark running in New Frontier.
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