THE MOST MYSTERIOUS SONG ON THE INTERNET

TV-Documentary // 60 MIN // 2025 // COMMISSIONED BY ARD // PRODUCED BY 3B PRODUCTION BERLIN

A mysterious new wave song recorded on cassette in the 1980s has become the biggest music mystery on the internet decades later. Millions of users worldwide have been searching for years for the origin of this recording and, of course, for the unknown band behind the “Most Mysterious Song on the Internet.”

What begins as a personal story of two siblings develops into a global phenomenon. Our film follows this adventurous search for clues from the analog world of the 1980s to the digital world of today—with reenactments (magnificent actors!), exciting archive collages, and great interviewees such as Alphaville singer Marian Gold, music expert Antoine Monin from Spotify, and American Justin Whang, who publishes the series “Tales from the Internet” on YouTube. We filmed in New York, Paris, Tbilisi, Munich, Berlin, and Hamburg, as well as in idyllic Krems an der Donau.

The result is a film about the value of secrecy, about missing links, about radically changing music consumption, and about the unique dynamics of community in the online universe.

In the end, the central question remains: How can it be that in an age of seemingly unlimited availability, a song remains untraceable? And has the mystery been solved in the meantime?

SCENES

Written & Directed by REES DALE & ANDREAS GRÄFENSTEIN
Starring
LILLY SCHAEFFLER AS LYDIA
ANDREAS NICKL AS DARIUS
ALESSIA MAZZOLA AS THE YOUNG LYDIA
JONA LEVIN NICOLAI AS THE YOUNG DARIUS
Director of Photography KRITI KAPOOR DALE
Camera Assistance ANTOINETTE DYKSMANN · LUIS HARTMANN · EKATERINA MOSTOVAIA
Lighting SINA BLUME
Sound REES DALE · SHADI FARID · CHARLES GRÉGOIRE · JONATHAN LUBASCH
Production Design OLGA GREDIG
Make-up MARLEN ELSTNER
Editing & Animation REES DALE
Editing Assistance NINA MÜHLENKAMP
Color Grading JAN HARTMANN
Sound Mixing CORNELIUS RAPP
Archive Producing SUSANNE LIEBSCHER · MILENA SMACZNY
Distribution ARYA DARIUSCH HECTOR
Production PAUL GREDIG
Producers MARIA WILLER · BERNHARD VON HÜLSEN
Editorial Department ARD Kultur FRANCISCUS WENNER
Editorial Department NDR MELANIE THUN
Head of Content ARD Kultur KRISTIAN COSTA-ZAHN
Editor-in-chief NDR CHRISTINE GERBERDING
Production ARD Kultur SIBYLLE ESSIG

Written & Directed by REES DALE & ANDREAS GRÄFENSTEIN
Starring
LILLY SCHAEFFLER AS LYDIA
ANDREAS NICKL AS DARIUS
ALESSIA MAZZOLA AS THE YOUNG LYDIA
ONA LEVIN NICOLAI AS THE YOUNG DARIUS
Director of Photography KRITI KAPOOR DALE
Camera Assistance ANTOINETTE DYKSMANN · LUIS HARTMANN · EKATERINA MOSTOVAIA
Lighting SINA BLUME
Sound REES DALE · SHADI FARID · CHARLES GRÉGOIRE · JONATHAN LUBASCH
Production Design OLGA GREDIG
Make-up MARLEN ELSTNER
Editing & Animation REES DALE
Editing Assistance NINA MÜHLENKAMP
Color Grading JAN HARTMANN
Sound Mixing CORNELIUS RAPP
Archive Producing SUSANNE LIEBSCHER · MILENA SMACZNY
Distribution ARYA DARIUSCH HECTOR
Production PAUL GREDIG
Producers MARIA WILLER · BERNHARD VON HÜLSEN
Editorial Department ARD Kultur FRANCISCUS WENNER
Editorial Department NDR MELANIE THUN
Head of Content ARD Kultur KRISTIAN COSTA-ZAHN
Editor-in-chief NDR CHRISTINE GERBERDING
Production ARD Kultur SIBYLLE ESSIG

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