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The Education of Jane Cumming

Panorama 2026
© Heimatfilm
Edinburgh, 1810. Teachers Jane Pirie and Marianne Woods embark on their dream of an independent life together and open a boarding school. Their lives are changed forever when a wealthy aristocrat enrols Jane Cumming, her “illegitimate” 15-year-old grandchild from India. The teachers struggle to integrate the girl who remains an outsider among her classmates. Miss Pirie and Miss Woods are brought closer to Jane when her grandmother insists they look after her over the summer. Private and professional lines blur, affection between them grows and they start to form an unlikely family. Tensions rise, however, as the new term begins. The two teachers are overwhelmed by the girl’s increasing desire for closeness as well as by their own changing relationship. As Jane begins to feel excluded from her new family, she demands to be taken home to her grandmother. An accusation follows which leaves the teachers in an existential battle, resulting in a legal fight that would last a decade and scandalise the Scottish establishment. Based on true events.

Trailer/Film Excerpt

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by Sophie Heldman (Director, Screenplay), Flora Nicholson (Screenplay)
with Flora Nicholson, Clare Dunne, Mia Tharia, Fiona Shaw, Sadie Shimmin Germany / Switzerland / United Kingdom 2026 English 114' Colour World premiere

With

  • Flora Nicholson (Jane Pirie)
  • Clare Dunne (Marianne Woods)
  • Mia Tharia (Jane Cumming)
  • Fiona Shaw (Lady Cumming Gordon)
  • Sadie Shimmin (Ann Woods)

Crew

Director Sophie Heldman
Screenplay Sophie Heldman, Flora Nicholson
Cinematography Kate Reid
Editing Isabel Meier
Music Balz Bachman
Sound Design Jacques Kieffer
Production Design Renate Schmaderer
Costumes Peri De Braganca
Make-Up Maddy MacDonald
Casting Jina Jay, Jessie Frost
Producer Bettina Brokemper
Co-Producers Karin Koch, Nadira Murray
Executive Producer Susan Simnett

Produced by

Heimatfilm

Köln, Germany

Co-produced by

Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion

Zürich, Switzerland

Sylph Productions

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

World Sales

Global Constellation

München, Germany

Photos

Sophie Heldman

© Edith Held

The filmmaker was born in Hamburg, Germany and grew up in Switzerland. After working on independent film productions in New York, she studied directing at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB). Her debut feature film, Satte Farben vor Schwarz, starring Bruno Ganz and Senta Berger, premiered in competition at San Sebastián and was a box office hit in Germany and Switzerland. The Education of Jane Cumming is her second feature film.

Filmography

2001 Icke; short film 2010 Satte Farben vor Schwarz (Colors in the Dark) 2026 The Education of Jane Cumming; Berlinale 2026

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2026