MOTHER SUPERIOR (German: MATER SUPERIOR) // AT 2022 (71 min) // Horror-Drama
>>>>> BEST FEATURE FILM & DIRECTOR // Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 2022 <<<<<
>>>>> BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN // Grimmfest 2023 <<<<<
>>>>> BEST PICTURE & FEMALE LEAD & PROD. DESIGN // SA Horrorfest 2023 <<<<<
SYNOPSIS: 1975, Rosenkreuz Manor. Sigrun starts a new position with the eccentric Baroness Heidenreich. A shared longing binds the two women together: the old lady’s memory contains the secret to Sigrun's true identity; the nurse’s life force holds the key to the future for the Baroness. On the path to self-discovery, Sigrun is confronted with the sinister world of "völkisch" occultism, opening an unearthly abyss in which every moral and principle is tested.
DIRECTOR STATEMENT:
My work often deals with faith and ideology. The power of imagination fascinates me. Insofar, the connection between fascism and occultism is a theme that I have been researching for years. The existence of NS-devoted women’s movements was something new to me. So I decided to look deeper into this paradox.
Meanwhile Covid was raging and camps with conflicting positions teamed up – esoteric naturopaths who suddenly agreed with Trump; left-wing liberals who fell for ultranationalist conspiracy theories. I was baffled and confused and reflected on how naively we put labels on values – good/evil, permitted/forbidden, rational/odd – and how many combination possibilities there are in fact.
I am neither trying to attack one position, nor to qualify the other. We simply ought to be aware of the danger that despicable worldviews may walk hand in hand with appealing ideals.
On one side, the folkish feminists were ahead of the times and acted in the interests of equality – on the other side, they postulated the “Aryan supremacy“ from the perspective of the mother, the governess, the mystic.
INTERVIEWS:
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+++ WORLD PREMIERE: Sep 29th 2022 at SLASH Film Festival Vienna +++
+++ INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE: Oct 15th 2022 at BROOKLYN Horror Film Festival +++
+++ WEST COAST PREMIERE: Oct 20th 2022 at PORTLAND Film Festival +++
+++ EUROPEAN PREMIERE: Mar 10th 2023 at FRIGHTFEST Glasgow +++
+++ LATIN AM. PREMIERE: Apr 16th 2023 at FANTASPOA Porto Alegre +++
+++ SWISS PREMIERE: Apr 29th 2023 at BRUGGGORE Brugg +++
+++ GREEK PREMIERE: May 10th 2023 at HORRORANT Athens +++
+++ WA STATE PREMIERE: May 20th 2023 at SIFF Seattle +++
+++ POLISH PREMIERE: Aug 8th 2023 at OCTOPUS Gdansk +++
+++ MEXICAN PREMIERE: Aug 18th 2023 at MACABRO Mexico City +++
+++ GERMAN PREMIERE: Sep 23rd 2023 at RANDFILMFEST Kassel +++
+++ OCEANIAN PREMIERE: Sep 29th 2023 at ANOH Sydney +++
+++ LANCASHIRE PREMIERE: Oct 6th 2023 at GRIMMFEST Manchester +++
+++ AFRICAN PREMIERE: Oct 26th 2023 at SA HORRORFEST Cape Town +++
+++ IRISH PREMIERE: Oct 28th 2023 at IFI Dublin +++
+++ ITALIAN PREMIERE: Nov 26th 2023 at BE AFRAID Gorizia +++
CREDITS:
Writer, Director & Production Designer: Marie Alice Wolfszahn
Producers: Judith Doppler & Kurt Mayer
Cinematography: Gabriel Krajanek
Editing: Georg Eggenfellner
Original Music: July Skone & Stefan Voglsinger
Sound Design: Jon Geirfinnsson
Costume Design: Cristina Brandner-Wolfszahn
Art Direction & Visual Effects: Manuel Biedermann
Colour Grading: Nico Wieseneder
Sound Mix: Lenja Gathmann
Cast: Isabella Händler, Inge Maux, Jochen Nickel, Tim Werths
Funded by: BMKOES, Stadt Wien Kultur, Niederösterreich Kultur
MOTHER SUPERIOR (Austria 2022) is produced by She Fox Film & Kurt Mayer Film
International Sales: Black Mandala
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