Forklift Driver Klaus - The First Day on the Job
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| Forklift Driver Klaus - The First Day on the Job | |
 Konstantin Graudus as Klaus |
|
| Directed by | Stefan Prehn Jörg Wagner |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Michael Sombetzki |
| Written by | Jörg Wagner Stefan Prehn |
| Narrated by | Egon Hoegen |
| Cinematography | Matthias Lehmann |
| Editing by | Andrea Stabenow |
| Running time | 9 min |
| Country |  Germany |
| Language | German |
| Budget | €90,000 |
Forklift Driver Klaus - The First Day on the Job (in German, Staplerfahrer Klaus – Der erste Arbeitstag) is a German short film from 2000 about the first day of Klaus' work as a forklift driver. The film is a parody of work safety films from the 1980s. The film was written and directed by Stefan Prehn and Jörg Wagner. Konstantin Graudus plays the role of Klaus, and Egon Hoegen is the narrator. It adds to the air of authenticity that the narrator's voice is well known from road safety films.
The film quickly became famous, much thanks to its splatter film violence, which fans regard as comical due to its extreme nature. As well as receiving several awards, it was made available on DVD by Anolis Entertainment in 2003 with language dubbing in English, French and Spanish.
[edit] Plot
The film is presented as a safety instruction video for forklift truck drivers and shows the first day of work for newly-qualified forklift truck driver Klaus. The film highlights in a gory manner the dangers of unsafe operation of machinery. As the film progresses the injuries/deaths become more brutal, beginning with things like a man falling from the fork lift after he was lifted improperly, and ending with the most violent: a stray chainsaw that had been on when the arm using it was cut off drives itself around before reaching a man who has already been cut in half and hit on the head by an emergency warning bell (which has fallen off the wall due to its overuse thanks to Klaus, hitting the man), and it is stopped by tool. As it cuts through the tool, the man stares at the example of what the saw is about to do to him. Finally the saw breaks the tool and drives into the man, and we see a POV shot of his guts being chopped up. The film ends after Klaus is killed by decapitation and two men are left stuck to the fork 'prongs' screaming. The truck drives off into the sunset as the men continue to scream.
[edit] Awards
The film has won many awards, including:
- The Canal+ International Award for Best Short Film at the Cinema Jove Festival Internacional de Cine València in 2001
- The Jury Award for Best Short Film and the Audience Award for Best Short Film at the San Sebastian Horror and Fantasy Film Festival in 2001
- The Audience Award for Short Film and the Special Prize of the European Broadcasters Jury for Best Original Idea at the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film in 2002
- The Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Award at the Day of the German Short Film awards in 2002
- The German Film Critics Award for Best Short Film at the German Film Critics Association Awards in 2002
- The Jury Prize for Best Short Film at the Fantasia Film Festival in 2003 (where it also won 3rd place in the Best Short Film category
