Groundbreaker Gala: Sound of Falling
This epic that instantly placed Mascha Schilinski among the top tier of arthouse cinema entwines the fates of four generations of women and girls on the same German farm.
R&A’s Groundbreaker Gala film is the critically acclaimed Sound of Falling, which catapulted director Mascha Schilinski into the spotlight following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The film won the Jury Prize at the festival, firmly establishing the German filmmaker’s place among the stars of European art cinema—with only her second feature-length film.
Sound of Falling is a century-spanning epic that follows the lives of young women and girls across generations on the same German farm. Covering nearly a century of German history, the film only allows historical upheavals to echo faintly into the closed-off world of the farm. The interwoven stories gradually reveal their connections to the viewer.
The pale-haired Alma lives at the dawn of the 20th century; teenager Erika appears in the 1940s, under the shadow of the Second World War. Rebellious young Angelika comes of age in a divided Germany during the 1980s, while Lenka lives in the present day. Cruel fates, horrors witnessed through keyholes by children’s eyes, and dust-covered photographs tell the story of characters trying to find their place in a society where women’s roles are tightly confined.
A haunting and breathtaking film, Sound of Falling leaves the audience stunned—and lingers in the mind long after the theatre lights come up.
Inari Ylinen
Trailer
Collaboration
