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Schwesterlein

My Little Sister
Competition 2020
© Vega Film
Lisa has given up her ambitions as a playwright in Berlin and moved to Switzerland with her children and husband, who runs an international school there. When her twin brother Sven, a star actor at Berlin’s Schaubühne theatre, falls ill with leukaemia, Lisa returns to the German capital. His hopes of getting back on the stage give Sven the strength he needs to fight the disease. But when his condition deteriorates and his mother, also an actor, proves unreliable, Lisa takes the reins and whisks her brother back to Switzerland. She hopes that new treatments, family life and mountain air will work a miracle. Brother and sister, Berlin and Switzerland, life and theatre, sickness and health. With its outstanding leading cast, Schwesterlein interweaves these complementary binaries into a mature, moving and complex drama. This film explores the meaning of healing and sacrifice, the integrity of an adult sibling relationship – a topic that has rarely been addressed as it is here – and artistic work as a core aspiration in life. A fairy tale, with two adults as Hansel and Gretel, the theatre as the gingerbread house and the illness as the evil witch.
by Stéphanie Chuat, Véronique Reymond
with Nina Hoss, Lars Eidinger, Marthe Keller, Jens Albinus, Thomas Ostermeier, Linne-Lu Lungershausen, Noah Tscharland, Isabelle Caillat, Moritz Gottwald, Urs Jucker Switzerland 2020 German, English, French 99’ Colour

With

  • Nina Hoss (Lisa)
  • Lars Eidinger (Sven)
  • Marthe Keller (Kathy)
  • Jens Albinus (Martin)
  • Thomas Ostermeier (David)
  • Linne-Lu Lungershausen (Linne-Lu)
  • Noah Tscharland (Noah)
  • Isabelle Caillat (Assistant Headmaster)
  • Moritz Gottwald (Lukas)
  • Urs Jucker (Actor)

Crew

Written and Directed by Stéphanie Chuat, Véronique Reymond
Cinematography Filip Zumbrunn
Editing Myriam Rachmuth
Music Christian Garcia-Gaucher
Sound Patrick Storck, Gina Keller, Jacques Kieffer
Production Design Marie-Claude Lang Brenguier
Costumes Anna Van Brée
Make-Up Marc Hollenstein, Barbara Grundmann
Assistant Director Jérôme Dassier
Production Manager Jean-Marie Gindraux
Producer Ruth Waldburger
Co-Production RTS Genf
SRG Bern
Arte Bern

World sales

Beta Cinema

http://www.betacinema.com http://www.betacinema.com

Produced by

Vega Film

Photos

Press Conference

Red Carpet

Stéphanie Chuat

© Vega Film

Swiss filmmakers Stéphanie Chuat (born in 1970) and Véronique Reymond met each other at school. As actors, they have performed in numerous theatre productions and have also appeared as a stage duo. One of their first short films, Berlin Backstage, was shot at the Berlin Philharmonie and won the Berlin Today Award at the 2004 Berlinale. In 2005, they directed the first of several documentaries. Their debut feature La petite chambre screened at Locarno in 2010 and represented Switzerland at the 2011 Oscars. In 2014, they wrote and directed the TV series À livre ouvert.

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020

Véronique Reymond

Born in Switzerland in 1971. Together with Stéphanie Chuat, she has written and directed films and the two have acted in stage and film productions. Véronique Reymond played a leading role in Eric Rohmer’s Romances of Astrea as well as starring in Open Book, a series she co-directed with Stéphanie Chuat, for which she received the Swissperform Award for Best Actress in a series.

Filmography (joint films)

2004 Berlin Backstage 2005 Gymnase du soir, petites histoires, grandes études (Evening Class for Adults); Documentary 2009 Buffo, Buten & Howard; Documentary 2010 La petite chambre (The Little Bedroom) 2014 À livre ouvert (Open Book); TV-Series 2018 Les Dames (Ladies); Documentary 2020 Schwesterlein (My Little Sister)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020