I WAS AT HOME, BUT… (ICH WAR ZUHAUSE, ABER…) World Cinema

I WAS AT HOME, BUT… (ICH WAR ZUHAUSE, ABER…)

Angela Schanelec’s cryptic, disjointed and enigmatic winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director award at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival takes place two years following the death of Astrid’s (Maren Eggert) husband. As Astrid attempts to maintain a sense of stability, the disappearance of her 13-year-old son Phillip and his sudden return plunge the household into quiet crisis. Familial trauma is premise to a series of defiantly fragmented vignettes: Astrid attempts to purchase a second-hand bicycle, her son and his classmates stage a production of Hamlet, two teachers discuss their relationship, a dog, a rabbit and a donkey. A formally daring interpretation of helplessness in the face of loss, I WAS AT HOME, BUT… secures Schanelec’s role as a leading voice in contemporary German cinema. –Malin Kan

Born in the south of Germany in 1962, Angela Schanelec studied acting in Frankfurt am Main followed by engagements at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg and the Schaubühne in Berlin. From 1990 to 1995 she studied directing at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin. She is professor of narrative film at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg. NACHMITTAG (AFTERNOON) screened in the 2007 Berlinale Forum; her films have also screened at Cannes and Locarno.

Tom Sveen
The Cinema Guild
tom@cinemaguild.com

Details

Country: Germany, Serbia

Year: 2019

Director: Angela Schanelec

Screenwriter: Angela Schanelec

Producer: Angela Schanelec

Executive Producer: Jana Cisar

Director of Photography: Ivan Markovic

Editor: Angela Schanelec

Production Designer: Reinhild Blaschke

Cast/Featuring: Maren Eggert, Franz Rogowski, Clara Möller, Jakob Lassalle, Lilith Stangenberg, Alan Williams, Jirka Zett, Dane Komljen

Running Time (minutes): 105 min

Language: German

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