A young woman returns to her home village after her childlike father had gone missing in the surrounding woods. Throughout her day back home, she is torn between feeling responsible and a deep longing for connection and ease. Year of production 2025 Length 20' CountryGermany/Austria Shooting Format Digital (2K) Aspect Ratio 16:9 Dialogue German Director Simon Maria Kubiena Production Company Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, in collaboration with Filmakademie Wien Co-production ARTE, SWR Producers Fabian Leonhardt, Lena Zechner Writers Simon Maria Kubiena, Nicola Jakobi Cinematographer Dennis Banemann EditorJan Wollenschläger Casting Zorah Berghammer, Magdalena Steiner Production Design Emma Sophie Schaub Costume Design Elisa Berger Hair&Make-up Vicky Kirchner, Madeleine Baumann, Cori Menclik Sound Engineer Alexandre “Sacha” Gneouchev Sound Editing Sam Krupke Sound Mix Jonathan Rösch Sound Design Rachel Oker Foley Marc Lehnert, Vincent Egerter, Max Schieder Music Moritz Klock Production Manager Elli Leeb Assistant Directors Benno Hanke, Jana Alina Tausendfreund Commissioning Editors Brigitte Dithard (SWR), Laurence Rilly (ARTE) Cast Lisa Weber, Richard Schmidt-Wonisch, Katharina Loewert, Alexander Kienbichl, Martin Sommerauer
Supported by MA7 Wien Kultur, Come On Kulturvernetzung Niederösterreich, LBBW Stiftung
Director's Statement The contradictions of community and family, seeking intimacy while fearing it. This is what we set out to explore. It all started with an archive video from a village in Lower Austria, dated 1995. A man is dancing at a disco, moving freely to the music and stripping in front of others. For us, this became a young woman's memory of her father. Accompanied by the question of how his unusually liberated nature influenced their relationship, we wanted to tell how this nature had changed over time: the dancing father had become a man who disappears into the forest at night and irritates those around him. Bound to her home village for a day out of a sense of responsibility, our protagonist unexpectedly encounters something else as well. A childhood friend awakens in her a longing for closeness and ease. As in a mirror, our protagonist recognises herself in her father and is faced with the question - Am I running away or am I taking a step into the community?
