Heute oder morgen

Before We Grow Old
Summer in Berlin. Two Berliners, Maria and Niels, and one British student, Chloë, are three twenty-somethings. Drifting libidinously through Berlin, they plunge headlong into a carefree and chaotic love affair with each other. Boisterously living life to the full, they grasp everything and anything they please. Their only compass seems to be the pleasure they experience together – which works perfectly well until Chloë unintentionally falls pregnant. Insecurity and anger, jealousy and doubt now break out. An abortion is planned, and rejected. Who is allowed to have a say, and when, and about what? Their unusual trinity dissolves and their once balanced relationship mutates into shifting constellations of two – until it seems it might be possible to restore a precarious equilibrium, at least for a moment. Is their utopia within reach or is this just the calm before the storm? To love differently is hard work. The world is not prepared for Maria, Niels and Chloë. And neither are they.
by Thomas Moritz Helm
with Paula Knüpling, Maximilian Hildebrandt, Tala Gouveia, Hans Jochen Wagner, Leonard Kunz, Oliver Moser, Yotam Ishay, Roland Bonjour, Timur Isik, Nora Decker
Germany 2019 German, English 93’ Colour

With

  • Paula Knüpling (Maria)
  • Maximilian Hildebrandt (Niels)
  • Tala Gouveia (Chloe)
  • Hans Jochen Wagner (Hans)
  • Leonard Kunz (Julian)
  • Oliver Moser (Franz)
  • Yotam Ishay (Ben Jakubowski)
  • Roland Bonjour (Frederik)
  • Timur Isik (Chris)
  • Nora Decker (Martha)

Crew

Written and Directed by Thomas Moritz Helm
Cinematography Stefan Neuberger
Editing Elena Weihe
Sound Design Detlef A. Schitto
Sound Tobias Rüther
Production Design Marlene Gartner
Costumes Birgit Bungum
Casting Lisa Stutzky
Assistant Director Maria Ochs
Production Manager Sabine Schmidt
Producer Thomas Moritz Helm

Thomas Moritz Helm

Born in Bonn, Germany in 1979, he has worked as a grip, gaffer and cinematographer on over 50 film and TV projects. He was a directing intern at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, the Burgtheater in Vienna and the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus. He also attended the William Esper Studio acting school in New York and, from 2006 to 2012, studied at the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf. His graduation film Ein kleiner Augenblick des Glücks (A Brief Moment of Joy) screened at numerous national and international festivals and was nominated for the German Short Film Award in 2013.

Filmography

2009 In stillem Einverständnis (In Silent Agreement); short film 2013 Ein kleiner Augenblick des Glücks (A Brief Moment of Joy); short film 2014 Mein Vater und die Fledermaus (My Father and the Bat); documentary 2019 Heute oder morgen (Before We Grow Old)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2019