Philip Groening's film DIE GROSSE STILLE ("Into Great Silence") celebrates its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival • Theatrical launch of the cine plus co-production is on 10 November

Philip Groening's DIE GROSSE STILLE is celebrating its world premiere at the 62nd International Film Festival in Venice. Groening withdrew for several months to the seclusion of La Grande Chartreuse – the mother monastery of the legendary Carthusian order in the French Alps – to make his documentary. He used his camera to document the life of the monks, which is marked by a strict vow of silence and isolation from the world. DIE GROSSE STILLE is the first film ever to be made about life behind monastery walls. It was shot on HDCAM, 35mm and Super 8 and will be distributed by X Verleih.

DIE GROSSE STILLE is a Philip Groening production in cooperation with Bavaria Film, Ventura Film SA, cine plus, TSI, Bayerischer Rundfunk and ZDF in cooperation with ARTE; it was funded by the Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen (film-funding institution of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia) and the FFA (German Federal Film Board).

X VERLEIH will launch DIE GROSSE STILLE on 10 November 2005