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Zikaden

Cicadas
Panorama 2025
© Judith Kaufmann / Lupa Film
Isabell’s life takes a turn when she realises that her elderly parents can no longer live independently. The search for carers is difficult and there are also complications in her marriage to Philippe. She shuttles between Berlin and her parents’ weekend house, a striking modernist building designed by her prominent father himself in better days. There, Isabell repeatedly encounters the enigmatic Anja, a single mother who is struggling to make ends meet. An unexpected bond begins to form. The more Anja and her daughter Greta become part of Isabell’s life, the more uncertain she feels about the existence she has so carefully built for herself. Isabell senses the ground shifting beneath her feet as she increasingly loses control.
by Ina Weisse (Director, Screenplay)
with Nina Hoss, Saskia Rosendahl, Vincent Macaigne, Thorsten Merten Germany / France 2025 German, French, English 100' Colour World premiere

With

  • Nina Hoss (Isabell)
  • Saskia Rosendahl (Anja)
  • Vincent Macaigne (Philippe)
  • Thorsten Merten (Uwe)

Crew

Director Ina Weisse
Screenplay Ina Weisse
Cinematography Judith Kaufmann
Editing Hansjörg Weißbrich
Music Annette Focks
Sound Design Noemi Hampel
Production Design Petra Ringleb, Susanne Hopf
Casting Nina Haun
Producers Felix von Boehm, Katrin Jochimsen
Executive Producer Nina Hoss
Co-Producer Sébastien Haguenauer

Produced by

Lupa Film

10:15! Productions

World Sales

Beta Cinema

Photos

Ina Weisse

© Heike Blenk

Born in Berlin, Germany, the actor, writer and director studied acting at the Otto Falckenberg School in Munich and has appeared on various stages and in numerous television series and cinema films. After studying philosophy in Heidelberg, she took a directing degree at the University of Hamburg. Her short film Alles anders won the 2002 First Steps Award while her debut feature Der Architekt won awards including the Max Ophüls Prize for Best Screenplay and was selected to screen in the On Transmission special series at the 2020 Berlinale. Following her documentary about the Neue Nationalgalerie and the German-French feature film Das Vorspiel (The Audition), starring Nina Hoss, Zikaden (Cicadas) is her third feature-length film for the cinema.

Filmography

2000 Sonntags; short film 2001 Klara; short film 2002 Alles anders; short film 2008 Der Architekt 2017 Die Neue Nationalgalerie; short documentary 2019 Das Vorspiel (The Audition) 2025 Zikaden (Cicadas)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2025