Same Same But Different, Featuring Rising Star David Kross, to Premiere at the Locarno International Film Festival

Same Same But Different is a German film shot in Cambodia, starring young Thai actress Apinya Sakuljaroensuk and David Kross, the young actor who played opposite Oscar winner Kate WinsletKate Winslet in The Reader.

Directed by Detlev Buck and produced by Claus Boje, Same Same But Different will have its world premiere at the Locarno International Film Festival on August 13, 2009. The festival debuted yesterday and runs until August 15.

Same Same But Different is a romantic drama based on the true story of Benjamin, a young German man traveling through Asia who falls in love with a Phnom Penh bar girl named Sreykeo. Benjamin decides he truly loves Sreykeo and is determined to conquer any obstacle to be with her.

If you haven’t seen The Reader, run, do not walk to your nearest video store and rent it or prioritize it as #1 on your Netflix queue – whichever you prefer. Newcomer David Kross, who was only 17 when filming began, outacts all of his veteran peers. He is that good. So it was no surprise when Kross won The Chopard Trophy at the 62nd International Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2009, the Shooting Stars award at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival on February 9, 2009, and the Sierra Award at the 12th Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards on December 18, 2008.

What did come as a surprise was when Kross lost both the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Performer and the Critics Choice Award for Best Young Actor Under 21 to the extremely sweet but extremely overrated Dev Patel for the inferior and overhyped Slumdog Millionaire.

An even bigger surprise came when Kross was omitted from the Best Supporting Actor category in both the 2008 Oscars and the 2009 Golden Globes. Why all the outrage? Maybe it’s because there were times when he worked with a dialect coach up to seven hours a day to improve his English for his role in the film. Maybe it’s because, in spite of him joking in recent interviews, that he did The Reader to learn English, one would have no idea that he had never spoken a word of English in his life until the making of the film because he speaks it with such fluidity throughout the film. Maybe it’s his big, soulful, expressive eyes that he repeatedly is able to communicate a range of emotions with non-verbally throughout the film, which is not an easy feat for any actor, especially one at such a young age.

Maybe it’s all of these reasons and more. The following statement was given by Kross at a press conference for The Reader at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival:

We certainly studied the Nazi period in school pretty

thoroughly as well which I think is positive and I think

that’s something that should be continued into the future

as well. When I was preparing for the film of course I

read a great deal more about the topic and I wanted to

find out more about it as well because I had a sense of

responsibility in a way – a sense of responsibility for

history and I’m very pleased that this is being turned into

a film and I hope that many of my friends and many

people of my generation will have an opportunity to see

this film and will think about the issues it raises.

When such words of eloquence, wisdom, and maturity come from this young man who wasn’t even 19 yet and understood the importance of social responsibility involved in his job, we can only continue to expect amazing things to keep coming David Kross’ way.