White Bird (Bundesstart)

In the organizer's words:

Screenings:

• Thu, April 25, 2024 - Tue, April 30, 2024 at 8:15 pm

Wednesdays: Original version with German subtitles (OmU)

Cast and crew: Helen Mirren, Gillian Anderson, Orlando Schwerdt...

New York, present day: Julian (Bryce Gheisar) has been expelled from his school for bullying. His grandmother Sara (Helen Mirren) wants to help her grandson and therefore decides to tell him the story of her own youth for the first time. She rarely talks about it, but now it is important to her in order to change something in Julian. The story begins in France in the early 1940s. Sara grows up happy and sheltered in the small town of Aubervilliers aux Bois in France. This changes abruptly with the occupation of the country by German troops. German soldiers search Sara's (Ariella Glaser) school for Jewish children. Thanks to the help of her classmate Julien (Orlando Schwerdt), Sara manages to escape. Julien takes Sara to his parents (Gillian Andersen and Jo Stone-Fewings) for safety and the family hides the girl in their barn. More than a year passes and a deep friendship develops between Sara and Julien. During this time, the barn becomes a magical refuge. The two create their own world there through the power of imagination. But the danger of their hiding place being discovered draws inexorably closer.