The Lights, They Fall

A film by Saša Vajda. Showing at the fsk from 20 August. In German with English subtitles,

[Credits] [Tickets & Termine] [Trailer]

Sixteen-year-old Ilay aim­less­ly drifts through the out­skirts of Berlin. His mother, Maria, lies on her death­bed, cared for by Ana, a Mexican pal­lia­ti­ve nur­se. Refusing to accept his mother’s impen­ding death, Ilay retre­ats fur­ther into hims­elf, incre­asing­ly shut­ting hims­elf off from rea­li­ty. Through slow, con­tem­pla­ti­ve images, the film fol­lows Ilay and Ana in their dai­ly rou­ti­nes, from Ana’s quiet dedi­ca­ti­on to Maria’s care to her strug­gles with her own addic­tion. Ilay works in a logi­stics cent­re, does com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice and spends his after­noons han­ging out with his fri­ends at a lake. At night, he is rest­less, wan­de­ring the city in a slee­p­less daze like a ghost. During one of his noc­turnal outings, he impul­si­ve­ly ste­als a dog, promp­ting Ana to take him to a psy­cho­lo­gist. There, Ilay reve­als his deep-sea­ted belief in the impos­si­bi­li­ty of death. As his mother’s pas­sing approa­ches, it beco­mes less an ine­vi­ta­bi­li­ty and more a mat­ter of mys­tery and speculation.

Credits:

DE 2026, 87 mins, German with English sub­tit­les,
Director: Saša Vajda
Cinematography: Tom Otte
Editing: Denys Darahan, Saša Vajda
Starring: Mohammed Yassin Ben Majdouba, Flor Prieto Catemaxca, Mahira Hakberdieva, Safet Bajraj, Shanthi Philipp, Solomon Guye, Mahir Özel

Trailer:

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