Germany Submits Mascha Schilinski’s "Sound of Falling" as Oscar Entry

Germany has chosen Mascha Schilinski‘s intergenerational drama “Sound of Falling,” which won Cannes’ Jury Prize, as its entry in the Best International Feature Film category of the 98th Academy Awards.

The independent jury of experts, appointed by German Films, said: “’Sound of Falling’ is formally uncompromising, emotionally existential, and artistically unique – without any parallel in German and international cinema. Spanning a century, the film interweaves the lives of four women who struggle against confinement, violence and social constraints. A work of rare urgency, masterfully directed, poetic, universal, courageous, ‘Sound of Falling’ is a physical experience that resonates and burns itself into the memory.”

“Sound of Falling” is set in a secluded farmstead in Germany’s Altmark region. For over a century, the walls have breathed the lives of the people who live here, their tastes, their existence in time.

The film tells the story of four women from different eras – Alma (1910s), Erika (1940s), Angelika (1980s) and Nelly (2020s) – whose lives are eerily intertwined. Each of them experiences their childhood or youth on this farm, but as they roam through their own present, traces of the past – unspoken fears, repressed traumas, buried secrets – reveal themselves to them.

Alma discovers that she was named after her deceased sister and believes she must follow the same fate. Erika loses herself in a dangerous fascination with her disabled uncle. Angelika balances between a death wish and a lust for life, trapped in a fragile family system. And finally there’s Nelly, growing up in apparent security, who is haunted by intense dreams and the unconscious burden of the past. When a tragic event repeats itself on the farm, the boundaries between past and present begin to blur.

The film was produced by Maren Schmitt, Lucas Schmidt and Lasse Scharpen for Studio Zentral with Burkhard Althoff and Melvina Kotios for ZDF/Das kleine Fernsehspiel. It was backed by Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM), the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM), and the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF).

MK2 is handling international sales. “Sound of Falling” has been sold to over 40 territories. Mubi acquired the rights for North America, the U.K., Ireland, India and Turkey. The German distributor is Neue Visionen.