Music

The myth of Oedipus is the core of this masterful piece of elliptical storytelling in which every detail, no matter how small, becomes a sign – or not. This is a film that transports us from the mountains and beaches of Greece to the lakes of Berlin, and from sometime in the 1980s to the present day. In between, there is one date that can be ascertained: 2006 (featuring football and two decisive minutes for Italy).
A newborn baby boy is rescued from a storm one night. Paramedic Elias and his wife take him in, name him Jon, and raise him. As a young man, Jon is attacked and commits manslaughter. The victim is none other than ... During his incarceration, Jon and a female prison officer named Iro become a couple. The tape recorder is playing baroque music: the playlist includes Monteverdi, Bach, Pergolesi. The aesthetics of this music develop into the film’s informing principle, reflecting events in a lucidly enigmatic and concretely abstract way that revels in its own austerity. In Angela Schanelec’s baroque-postmodern cinema, formulas from the doctrines of the affections and figures apply. An addictive intellectual-sensual challenge that allows us to blindly see.
by Angela Schanelec
with Aliocha Schneider, Agathe Bonitzer, Marisha Triantafyllidou, Argyris Xafis, Frida Tarana, Ninel Skrzypczyk, Miriam Jakob, Wolfgang Michael
Germany / France / Serbia 2023 English, Greek 108’ Colour World premiere

With

  • Aliocha Schneider (Jon)
  • Agathe Bonitzer (Iro)
  • Marisha Triantafyllidou (Merope)
  • Argyris Xafis (Elias)
  • Frida Tarana (Phoebe, 6 years old)
  • Ninel Skrzypczyk (Phoebe, 14 years old)
  • Miriam Jakob (Marta)
  • Wolfgang Michael (Hugh)

Crew

Director Angela Schanelec
Screenplay Angela Schanelec
Cinematography Ivan Marković
Editing Angela Schanelec
Sound Design Rainer Gerlach
Sound Rainer Gerlach
Production Design Ingo Klier
Costumes Anette Guther
Make-Up Monika Münnich, Mina Ghoraishi
Assistant Directors Dimitris Apostolou, Bohdan Graczyk
Casting Makis Gazis, Nadia Federova
Production Managers Panos Karabinos, Romana Janik
Line Producer Danae Spathara
Producer Kirill Krasovski
Executive Producers Konstantinos Kontovrakis, Giorgos Karnavas
Co-Producers François D’Artemare, Vladimir Vidić, Nataša Damnjanović
Co-Production Les Films de l’Après-Midi Paris
dart.film Belgrad

Additional information

in association with Heretic, Athens

Angela Schanelec

Born in the south of Germany in 1962, she 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.

Filmography

1993 Ich bin den Sommer über in Berlin geblieben (I Stayed in Berlin All Summer) 1995 Das Glück meiner kleinen Schwester (My Sister's Good Fortune) · Das Glück meiner kleinen Schwester (My Sister’s Good Fortune) 1998 Plätze in Städten (Places in Cities) 2001 Mein langsames Leben (Passing Summer) 2004 Marseille 2007 Nachmittag (Afternoon) 2009 Deutschland 09/Erster Tag; short film · Deutschland 09/Erster Tag; Short Film 2010 Orly 2014 The Bridges of Sarajevo/Princip Text; short film · The Bridges of Sarajevo/Princip Text; Short Film 2016 Der traumhafte Weg (The Dreamed Path) 2019 Ich war zuhause, aber (I Was at Home, But) · Ich war zuhause, aber ... (I Was at Home, But) 2023 Music

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2023