German Film Program for ‘Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me’ from August 1992

For years, I’ve scoured online auctions looking for unique ephemera from my favorite David Lynch film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. It’s a great day when I find gold such as this German film program from Austrian editor Rudolf J. Maly released in August 1992 for Twin Peaks: Der Film (or “Twin Peaks: The Film”). This prequel to the wonderful and strange television show was released on August 20 in Germany that year, eight days before its North American release. The paper program includes publicity photos along with a synopsis and list of key characters and crew members who worked on the film.

NUEUS FILMPROGRAMM – TWIN PEAKS: DER FILM – AUGUST 1992 | COVER

The cover of the Neues Filmprogramm number 9524 features a cropped publicity photo of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) and James Hurley (James Marshall) at Twin Peaks High School. The film’s logo for Twin Peaks: Der Film is pictured along the bottom cover.

The image was pulled from this German lobby card of a deleted scene from the film. This particular interaction was never released as part of The Missing Pieces. So it remains a missing, missing piece.

NUEUS FILMPROGRAMM – TWIN PEAKS: DER FILM – AUGUST 1992 | INSIDE

The brochure opens to reveal six additional lobby card images, some of which are cropped. You can see the full color images in this Twin Peaks Blog article.

A handful of actors are listed with some rather interesting choices, such as German actor Jürgen Prochnow who has about 10 seconds of screen time.

• Dale Cooper – Kyle MacLachlan
• Laura Palmer – Sheryl Lee
• Leland Palmer – Ray Wise
• Chester Desmond – Chris Isaak
• Donna Hayward – Moira Kelly
• Phillip Jeffries – David Bowie
• Carl Rodd – Harry Dean Stanton
• Norma Jennings – Peggy Lipton
• Gordon Cole – David Lynch
• Lumberjack – Jürgen Prochnow
• Sam Stanley – Kiefer Sutherland

A handful of crew members is also listed such as:

• Director – David Lynch
• Screenplay – David Lynch & Bob Engels
• Cinematography – Ron Garcia
• Music – Angelo Badalamenti
• Producer – Gregg Fienberg
• Executive Producers – David Lynch & Mark Frost

The film’s distributor was “Verleih CONSTANTIN FILM, BRD: JUGENDFILM” A brief synopsis is listed below the film credits to which I’ve translated below via Google Translate.

SYNOPSIS

“Twin Peaks: The Movie” is a chronological account of the last seven days in the life of Laura Palmer.

We see the dead body of Teresa Banks floating down the Wind River in Washington State. FBI Director Gordon Cole calls in his best agent, Chester Desmond, to investigate this strange case.

After inspecting a dilapidated trailer park, Teresa’s home, Desmond stumbles upon a significant solution that goes beyond mere tragedy. This is when Agent Dale Cooper intervenes. He senses that the case is fraught with unusual mysteries concerning the nature of time, space, and consciousness.

While these brilliant minds battle the tide of evil, which is already seeking a new victim, we follow the activities of Laura Palmer as she nears her salvation from the demons. Already scarred, Laura endures physical and emotional extremes that make it impossible for her to ever lead a normal, orderly life again. We witness the private excesses of Laura’s friends and relatives in Twin Peaks, and as time passes, it becomes apparent that many residents are living on the edge of the abyss, and that the beautiful Laura is almost over it

Laura realizes that the threads of a destructive web are tightening around her, and that the true source of her torture will soon be revealed. Her nightmares become more real, her drug abuse and sexual excesses escalate. The downward spiral of her life seems to be tightening. Laura knows the party is coming to an end. She can no longer live as a carrier of the evil that has taken possession of her heart and soul. There is only one way out…

A slightly different and expanded synopsis is found in the German press kit for Lynch’s 1992 masterpiece.

NUEUS FILMPROGRAMM – TWIN PEAKS: DER FILM – AUGUST 1992 | BACK COVER

The back cover includes a photo of Special Agent Phillip Jeffries (David Bowie) during his mysterious visit to the F.B.I. office in Philadelphia.

It’s also a cropped photo taken from this German lobby card. The back cover also provides specific details about this paper program that was produced in August 1992.

The Neues Filmprogramm was published and printed by Austrian Rudolf J. Maly who was located at 1070 Vienna, Lindengasse 43. For cinemas in the Federal Republic of Germany, the publishing representatives were located at D 8000 Munich 50, Ernst-Platz-Straße 41 E.

At the time of publication, Maly produced approximately 220 film programs and 20 film couriers annually. There were around 3,300 titles currently available for collectors in 1992. I found examples from the 1970s through the mid-1990s for sale online. A catalog supposedly existed which would be an incredibly helpful thing to find. Price for the catalog was 30 Austrian schillings/4.50 German marks plus shipping.

I’m thrilled to add this brochure to the ever growing archive of all things Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Download super high-resolution images of this program on my Flickr account – https://www.flickr.com/photos/aloha75/albums/72177720335086758