On first glance, Leyla and Tristan seem like a happy young couple. But when they travel to a mysterious, remote island, a game of identities begins, which changes everything – their perception, their sexuality, their whole “self”. Not only is their relationship in jeopardy, they may never be who they once were again…The film explores the relationship between body, mind, and soul, and the essence of love, with a lot of humor and poetry. Alex Schaad, who made his directorial debut with this film, won the Queer Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival.
Alex Schaad was born in Kaskelen, Kazakhstan in 1990, and moved to Germany with his family in 1993. After graduating from high school in Baden-Württemberg and doing his civil service in Munich, he worked in various positions in film, TV and theater productions, before enrolling to study film directing at Munich film school HFF 2013. His second student film INVENTION OF TRUST won the Max Ophüls Prize as best mid-length film 2016 and the Student Oscar in Gold in Los Angeles the same year. SKIN DEEP is his debut feature.
Selected director’s filmography
2018 "The Love Europe Project" (Short film, winner of Best Fiction, Adolf-Grimme-Award)
2017 "Endling" (Short film, winner of Best Medium-Length Film, Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis)
2016 "Invention of Trust" (Short film, winner of Best Medium-Length Film, Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis)
