Stille Liv

The Quiet Migration

Panorama 2023

Time passes by slowly on the family farm. Here, every task is predictable and every part of the day is determined by the needs of the animals and the course of nature. There is beauty and peace in this life, but when unspoken longings fill the silence, the stillness can become oppressive. For Carl, who has returned to the Danish countryside after finishing boarding school, this pressure builds slowly but surely. As an adopted child with South Korean roots, living in a predominantly white society constantly reminds him of how different he feels. His future here holds nothing new for him either. Although Carl is still searching for his place in life, his parents have no doubt that he will one day take over the farm.
In her autobiographically inspired feature-length film, Malene Choi gently blurs the line between the discernible outside world and the inner emotional world of the protagonist. The deeper we dive into Carl’s life, the more inexplicable events and apparitions begin to interfere with his otherwise completely realistically depicted daily routine. Visually powerful but at the same time intimate, Stille Liv explores notions of otherness and belonging.

by Malene Choi
with Cornelius Won Riedel-Clausen, Bjarne Henriksen, Bodil Jørgensen, Clara Thi Thanh Heilmann Jensen, Dawid Ściupidro Denmark 2023 Danish, English, Korean 102’ Colour

With

Cornelius Won Riedel-Clausen (Carl)
Bjarne Henriksen (Hans)
Bodil Jørgensen (Karen)
Clara Thi Thanh Heilmann Jensen (Marie)
Dawid Ściupidro (Andrzej)

Crew

Director	Malene Choi
Screenplay	Sissel Dalsgaard Thomsen, Malene Choi
Cinematography	Louise McLaughlin
Editing	Malene Choi, Sofie Steenberger
Sound Design	Brian Dyrby, Kristoffer Salting
Sound	Freja Printz
Production Design	Josephine Farsø
Costumes	Mathilde Kjær Bang
Make-Up	Maya Cecilie Geertsen Køster
Casting	Gro Therp
Assistant Director	Nathalia Ciepiel
Production Manager	Ann-Sofie Grøndal
Producer	Maria Møller Kjeldgaard

World sales

TrustNordisk

https://trustnordisk.com https://trustnordisk.com

Produced by

Manna Film

http://www.mannafilm.dk http://www.mannafilm.dk

Photos

Malene Choi

The South Korean filmmaker was born in 1973 and, after being adopted as a child, grew up in Denmark where she studied at the National Film School of Denmark. Her graduation film InshAllah won a Honorary Mention at the 2006 Hot Docs Festival in Toronto. Her debut feature-length film The Return received a Special Mention at the Göteborg Film Festival in 2018.

Filmography

2005 InshAllah; short documentary 2008 Voice over Voice; short documentary 2012 Dyret (Creature); short film 2018 The Return; documentary form 2023 Stille Liv (The Quiet Migration)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2023