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Schlaf

Sleep
Perspektive Deutsches Kino 2020
© Marius von Felbert/Junafilm
Once upon a time, there was a house in the woods where something terrible happened … Marlene is plagued by a recurring nightmare set in a hotel in the forest. When she discovers a newspaper advertisement for precisely this hotel, Marlene decides to face her fear. Against her daughter Mona’s advice, she drives to this idyllically situated place, only to find her fears confirmed. Shocked by the realisation that her dreams are apparently connected to three suicides, she falls into a stupor, an extreme mental and motor paralysis. Mona wants to find out what happened. During her investigation, she meets the friendly hotel owner Otto and his oddly dismissive wife Lore. Do the couple have something to hide? During her first night at the hotel, Mona is also shaken by a nightmare in which an unknown woman appears before her. This dream is the key to a dark secret that has something to do with the hotel and her own family history. For Mona, a roller-coaster ride into the abyss begins, in a film which plays with fairy-tale elements and blurs the boundaries between dream and reality.

Trailer/Film Excerpt

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by Michael Venus (Director, Screenplay), Thomas Friedrich (Screenplay)
with Gro Swantje Kohlhof, Sandra Hüller, August Schmölzer, Marion Kracht, Agata Buzek, Martina Schöne-Radunski, Max Hubacher, Andreas Anke, Katharina Behrens, Samuel Weiss Germany 2020 German 102' Colour World premiere

With

  • Gro Swantje Kohlhof (Mona)
  • Sandra Hüller (Marlene)
  • August Schmölzer (Otto)
  • Marion Kracht (Lore)
  • Agata Buzek (Waltrud)
  • Martina Schöne-Radunski (Franzi)
  • Max Hubacher (Christoph)
  • Andreas Anke (Wolfram Schierling)
  • Katharina Behrens (Bille)
  • Samuel Weiss (Dr. Herrero)

Crew

Director Michael Venus
Screenplay Thomas Friedrich, Michael Venus
Cinematography Marius von Felbert
Editing Silke Olthoff
Music Sebastian Damerius, Johannes Lehniger
Sound Design Stephan Konken, Anders Wasserfall
Sound Tim Stephan, Kevin Strauß
Production Design Lena Mundt
Costumes Petra Kilian
Make-Up Tatjana Kraus, Katharina Hepp
Casting Marion Haack
Assistant Directors Gesine Blanke
Production Manager Kivik Kuvik
Producer Verena Gräfe-Höft
Co-Producer Christian Cloos
Co-Production ZDF – Das Kleine Fernsehspiel Mainz

World Sales

Global Screen

München, Germany

Produced by

Junafilm

Hamburg, Germany

Additional information

In co-production with ZDF - Das kleine Fernsehspiel.

Photos

Michael Venus

© Christian Rothe

Born in Jena, Germany in 1976, the filmmaker took a degree in visual communication at the Bauhaus University in Weimar. He then worked as a producer at the KiKA children’s TV channel and studied directing at Hamburg Media School. His short graduation film, Roentgen, won numerous awards and was followed by further award-winning film work, commercials and music videos. He has co-written a number of screenplays including “Cowboy und Indianer” (working title, with Karen Köhler) that was nominated for a 2019 German Screenplay Award. Schlaf is his debut feature film.

Filmography

2008 Nicht nah genug; short film 2009 Roentgen; short film 2011 Fluss; short film · Eyjafjallajökull – Tam-Tam 2015 Parasite Single – The Hunt; music video 2019 For Blood the Crowd Bays; short film 2020 Schlaf (Sleep)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020