Cast
Mother: Freya Kreutzkam
Stephanie (as a child): Zelda Espenschied
Stephanie (as an adult): Miriam Schiweck
Father: Bernd Wolf

Girls: Hanna Conradt, Sonja Röck

 

Team

DoP: Jan Fabi

Assistant Camera: Christina Binder, Valentin Becker

Lighting Technician: Adrian Wagner
Editor: Marco Rottig

Assistant Editor: Alyna Yklymova

Grading: Stefano Zordan

Compositing: Christian Arlt, Philipp Hemmer, Stefano Zordan

Sound Design: Jonathan Rösch, Ole Ohlendorf

Foley Artist: Florian Kontny (Klangstatt Stuttgart)

ADR Recordist: Marc Fragstein
Dialogue Editor and Final Audio Mix: Jonathan Rösch
Sound on Set: Willibald Wonneberger, Isabella Forster, Johann Meis
Assistant Sound: Johannes Buchholz, Christina Binder

Make Up: Larissa Helwig, Susanne Steiger
Set Design and Costumes: Sabrina Mertens

Set Design Assistant: Judith Quast

Runner: Victoria Adelsbach, Judith Quast

Cat Wrangler: Berhan Kurthan

Unit Manager: Yukon Benner

Line Producer: Thomas Lechner

Producer: Sabrina Mertens, Vera Paulmann, Jan Fabi

Assistant Producer: Nadia Zimmermann, Hannah Buhr

Project Supervisor: Peter Kuszinski

Casting: Sabrina Mertens
Written and directed by: Sabrina Mertens

Synopsis

The Iiescapable still life of a family in 57 vignettes.

West Germany in the 1970s and 1980s: Stephanie is an intelligent and lively child, however,

she feels that something is wrong in her family, something that cannot be put into words.

The unspoken lurks beneath the surface of everyday life. She leads an isolated life with

her parents, marked by a symbiotic relationship with her mentally unstable mother.

A mother who has never really left her own childhood behind and lives a life amidst the

things of the past and her memories. Stephanie's father doesn't seem very trustworthy

to her. Stephanie withdraws more and more into herself, and the passing years bring only

aging, but no future with them. Thus Stephanie flees early from the narrowness into

a remote world of dark fantasies, which are nourished by the traces of past times and

belong only to her. Until one day, however, her secret penetrates the reality of the family...

 

Festivals and Screenings

– Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis (Feature Competition, World Premiere), Germany, January 2020
– International Film Festival Rotterdam, (Bright Future Competition, International Premiere), January 2020
– Screening at The EYE Film Institute Netherlands, Amsterdam, January 2020
– Fantasia International Film Festival (Camera Ludica Section), Montreal, Canada (online), August 2020
– Randfilmfest, Kassel, Germany, September 2020
– NIGHTSTREAM Festival, USA (online), October 2020
– Nordische Filmtage Lübeck, Germany (online), November 2020
– New Horizons International Film Festival, Breslau, Poland, November 2020
– Cucalorus Festival, USA (online), November 2020
– Seville European Film Festival, Seville, Spain, November 2020
– Screening at La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain, November 2020
– Final Girls Film Festival, Berlin (online), Germany, February 2021
– Filmfest Bremen, Germany, April 2021
– ARC Filmfestival, Mainz, Germany, September 2021
– REAKTOR International Film Festival, Vienna, Austria, October 2021
– Screening at Monastery Frauenzell in Brennberg, Bavaria, Germany, April 2023
– Screening at Z-Bar, Berlin, Germany, March 2025

 

Awards

– PERMANENT REVOLUTIONS BEST FILM AWARD by the FIPRESCI jury at Seville European Film Festival 2020
– BEST VISUAL STORYTELLING AWARD at ARC Film Festival 2021

 

Nomination

- Freya Kreutzkam was nominated for Best Up-and-Coming Actress at Fim Festival Max Ophüls Preis 2020