Film
WHEN WILL IT BE AGAIN LIKE IT NEVER WAS BEFORE

Film Screening

Tue, 11/12/2024
6:00 PM - 20:30 EST Goethe-Institut Washington

Join us November 12-16 for this year’s FILM|NEU festival, presenting new German-language films from Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. All films will be in German, with English subtitles.


WHEN WILL IT BE AGAIN LIKE IT NEVER WAS BEFORE

Germany (2023) 116 min.
German/English with English Subtitles
 

Director: Sonja Heiss
Screenplay: Sonja Heiss, Lars Hubrich, based on Joachim Meyerhoff’s novel of the same name
Cinematography: Manuel Dacosse
Cast: Laura Tonke, Devid Striesow, Pola Geiger, Camille Loup Moltzen, Casper von Bülow, Merlin Rose
Producers: Maren Ade, Jonas Dornbach, Janine Jackowski
Co-producers: Jean-Yves Roubin, Cassandre Warnauts, Peter Schauerte, Magdalena Prosteder
Production Company: Komplizen Film GmbH, Warner Bros. Entertainment GmbH

ABOUT THE FILM
For Josse Meyerhoff (Loup Moltzen/von Bülow/Rose), growing up is anything but typical. His family lives on the grounds of Germany’s largest psychiatric hospital, where his father, Richard (Striesow), is the director, and the boundaries between the patients and the family’s private lives are blurred. His mother, Iris (Tonke), ignores the signs of her crumbling marriage by painting Italian vistas and escaping into memories of her youth. The youngest of three boys, Josse is prone to emotional outbursts and sadness but often finds comfort and a sympathetic ear among the clinic’s patients. As Josse grows from his childhood in the 1970s to adolescence, his first love, a taste of freedom abroad, tragic losses in the 1980s, and finally into adulthood and his return to his family in the 1990s, the search for a sense of belonging and a feeling of home travels with him.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Sonja Heissis a screenwriter, novelist, and director based in Berlin. Raised in Munich, where she attended the University of Television and Film Munich, her student films KARMA COWBOY and CHRISTINA WITHOUT KAUFMANN have received numerous awards at international festivals. Her debut feature film HOTEL VERY WELCOME premiered in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section of the Berlinale, winning several prizes including the First Steps Award. Her second feature, HEDI SCHNEIDER STECKT FEST premiered in the Forum section of the Berlinale, winning several awards, including the Hessian Film Award. Her first book, a collection of short stories named “Das Glück geht aus,” was published in 2011. Her critically acclaimed novel “Rimini” was released in 2017 and made it onto the Spiegel bestseller list. She is an alumna of the Villa Aurora (2011).

SELECT AWARDS
German Film Award 2023: Nominated for Best Feature Film, Best Director
Günter Rohrbach Filmpreis 2023: Preis des Oberbürgermeisters, Best Performance – Laura Tonke