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Get up now or snooze for another five minutes? Coffee with or without sugar? Hop on the bike or into the tube? We make a lot of decisions each day. Small moments of yes or no, considered and decided within seconds. And then there are moments when we face unsolvable questions. That threaten to put us completely off balance and our life to spin out of control. An abyss opens. And no one knows what to do. In her second feature film »24 Wochen«, film-maker Anne Zohra Berrached takes a closer look at one of those chasms. Julia Jentsch plays Astrid, a devoted cabaret artist, mother of a child, wife of Markus (played by Bjarne Mädel). When she is pregnant with her second child, she finds out it will be born disabled.  Astrid and Markus face a life-altering decision. Oppressive and heart-breaking, soul-touching and abysmal feelings form the visual language. This film brings us very close to the people and their emotions, their despair and their inability. Director Berrached intensified her demand for authenticity by letting real doctors and not actors play the medics in the film. The language is real. So is the confrontation. »24 Wochen« was the only German entry in the competition of the 66th Biennale. And convinces with its merciless approach of a topic that is a taboo to this day: Who decides over life and death? How far does selfishness go? How much can a person bear?  How much strain can a relationship endure? How much stress can you put on a family? We want to know everything. But what do we do with this knowledge?
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24 Wochen |  Starting at cinemas on September 22nd, 2016 | Trailer | Facebook| Photo: Neue Visionen Filmverleih