WHO’S IN IT?
Helena Zengel (Looping), Albrecht Schuch (Measuring the World), Gabriela Maria Schmeide (The White Ribbon), Lisa Hagmeister (Black White), Melanie Straub (Air), Victoria Trauttmansdorff (Gegenüber), Maryam Zaree (Transit), Tedros Teclebrhan (Sasha), Matthias Brenner (The Lives of Others)
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Nora Fingscheidt (Brüderlein), director, writer; Peter Hartwig (Ohne Diese Welt), Jakob Weydemann (Silence in Dreamland) and Jonas Weydemann (Panihida), producers; John Gürtler (The Council of Birds), composer; Yunus Roy Imer (Beyond The Snowstorm), cinematographer; Stephan Bechinger (The Impossible Picture) and Julia Kovalenko (film debut), editor
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Benni (Zengel) is a 9-year-old foster child whose fiery temper and unruly behaviour has caused her to be labelled a “system crasher” by child protection services. All she wants is to be reunited with her mother Bianca (Hagmeister), but the mother’s reluctance to have her back forces social worker Mrs Bafané (Schmeide) to continuously find the best place for Benni to live. It’s not until she places anger management trainer Micah (Schuch) as Benni’s school escort that a seed of hope finally starts to sprout…
IN ONE SENTENCE, WHY SHOULD YOU BE EXCITED?
This fierce and emotionally tense drama was Germany’s official entry into the renamed Best International Feature Film Oscar, and although it wasn’t nominated its strong look at child service operations as well as a fiery lead performance by young Helena Zengel make it easy to see why it was selected in the first place.
