22nd German Film Festival (Golden Village)
Family Life
Rating
PG13 Some Mature Content
Language
German with English subtitles
Director
Rosa Hannah Ziegler
Synopsis
Biggi and Alfred used to be a couple, but life’s tough if you don’t have gainful employment. So although they are separated, they are still living together on a run-down farm in the state of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. Biggi’s daughters, 17-year-old Denise and 14-year-old Saskia, are trying to make their way in life. But they are hindered, both by the emotional rollercoaster that is puberty and by their schooling which is disrupted by bullying, bouts of anxiety and various spells in homes. The adults try to give them stability, but they are battling their own demons. They have big dreams of a Western town or a stud farm, but without money their bucolic idyll of horses and dogs soon feels like the end of the world. Film-maker Rosa Hannah Ziegler, in her first feature-length documentary Family Life, continues working with Wendland Film Cooperative to use the medium of film to examine social imbalances.