Post-production for the feature Interior has wrapped. German director Pascal Schuh shot his directorial debut over 23 days in autumn 2023, in and around Berlin and Potsdam. The film made its first appearance as a work in progress last year at Tallinn Black Nights. The movie is now ready to start its festival run.

Production is handled by outfit U5 Filmproduktion GmbH & Co KG, based in Frankfurt and Babelsberg, in collaboration with the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, where Schuh has been studying. The production company invested its own funds through its Schöne Aussichten emerging talent label. Moreover, the project was able to benefit from the Leuchtstoff initiative, a special funding programme for feature-length student graduation projects, supported by regional broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb) and the film funding body Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.

Pascal Schuh not only directed the film, but also wrote the screenplay together with Joe Hofer and Timo Ackermann. The latter is one of the main producers of Interior, alongside William Eggert. Also among the crew of young talents are cinematographer Greta Isabella Conte, production designers Lore Walter and Olga Gredig, editor Frederik Franke, and costume designer Clarissa Fuhr. As for the cast, it features Knut Berger (Sad Jokes [+leggi anche:
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The inspiration for the movie came from a true-crime case from 1973 about burglars hiding in sofas. The synopsis goes as follows: “Twenty-five-year-old burglar Kasimir uses a hollowed-out sofa to break into other people’s homes and secretly film their private moments. The recordings are given to brain surgeon Dr Liebermann, who watches the films to try to learn how to feel emotions. While Kasimir provides him with more footage of further break-ins as proof of his love, the doctor, unimpressed, prepares a revolutionary form of brain surgery in his cellar. The hospital’s ethics council did not approve it, but Liebermann sees an opportunity for his patient. Broken by unrequited love, Kasimir begins to break with Liebermann’s dogma – never intervene in what happens in front of the camera – which entails an unforgivable breach of trust. During Kasimir’s last break-in, the events come to a tragic head.”

The director states: “Beyond its thriller premise, the film explores how humans live behind fa­çades, and our universal desire to uncover others’ secrets while fiercely protecting our own. As a queer director, I’ve created a psychological thriller that examines the boundaries between reality and fiction, featuring queer protagonists without making their sexuality the focal point. Through the story of Kasimir, who escapes into others’ lives through breaking into their homes, and his unrequited love for Dr Liebermann, the movie explores isolation, unseen love and the fundamental question of what shapes our different realities. This isn’t just a film; it’s an exploration that ventures into the depths of the human soul.”

Interior is a production by U5 Filmproduktion GmbH & Co KG and Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf. The theatrical release and distribution details are not yet known.

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