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Die Saat

The Seed
Perspektive Deutsches Kino 2021
© kurhaus production
Rainer toils by the sweat of his brow on a building site. His first job as site manager is his much-needed big break. Rising rents in the city have already forced him, his pregnant wife and 13-year-old daughter Doreen to move into a little house in the outskirts which needs renovating. At first, Doreen is not thrilled about her new life but then she meets her neighbour Mara, a girl whose parents are as rich as they are narrow-minded. Before long the new friends are playing with fire. Mara incites Doreen to play some nasty tricks and also entangles her in a theft. Meanwhile at work, Rainer is demoted and replaced by Jürgen, a cool pragmatist who, with only the investors’ interests in mind, ruthlessly steers the building project towards profit. When an older employee is about to be fired, Rainer stands up to his new superior and involuntarily becomes the leader of a burgeoning resistance.
Pressure mounts inexorably in director Mia Mariel Meyer’s second feature film. In it, she describes a world dehumanised by capitalism, where the struggle for justice and integrity becomes the ultimate test.

Trailer/Film Excerpt

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by Mia Maariel Meyer (Director, Screenplay), Hanno Koffler (Screenplay)
with Hanno Koffler, Dora Zygouri, Anna Blomeier, Andreas Döhler, Lilith Julie Johna, Robert Stadlober Germany 2021 German 100' Colour

Part of the Berlinale Summer Special

With

  • Hanno Koffler (Rainer Matschek)
  • Dora Zygouri (Doreen Matschek)
  • Anna Blomeier (Nadine Matschek)
  • Andreas Döhler (Kleemann)
  • Lilith Julie Johna (Mara)
  • Robert Stadlober (Klose)

Crew

Director Mia Maariel Meyer
Screenplay Mia Maariel Meyer, Hanno Koffler
Cinematography Falko Lachmund
Editing Gesa Jäger
Sound Christoph Schilling
Production Design Tanja Arlt
Costumes Bettina Marx
Make-Up Heidi Wick
Assistant Director Moana Ziegler
Casting Marion Haack, Jacqueline Rietz
Production Manager Fabian Vetter
Producers Daniel Reich, Christoph Holthof
Commissioning Editors Stefanie Groß, Daniela Muck
Co-Production SWR Stuttgart
Arte Straßburg

Produced by

kurhaus production

Baden-Baden, Germany

Photos

Berlinale Meets | Interview

Mia Maariel Meyer

© Robin Kater

Born in Braunschweig, Germany in 1981 to German-Finnish parents, she studied film and screenwriting in New York and in London where she graduated with a master’s in filmmaking from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2008. Returning to Germany, she began working in documentary and made news features. In 2012, she won a Grimme Online Award for her work as editor of the 140 Sekunden documentary programme. In 2014, she made the no-budget film Up the Stairs. The film premiered at the Hof International Film Festival in 2015 where it won a Special Mention.

Filmography

2006 Heritage; short film 2008 Brief an meine Eltern (Letter to My Parents); short film 2010 Heimweh (Homesick); short film 2011 Vater (Father); short film 2013 Manou; short film 2015 Treppe Aufwärts (Up the Stairs) 2021 Die Saat (The Seed)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2021