Taking home the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, German director Mascha Schilinski’s extraordinary second feature chronicles four women who live in the same house at different periods over the last century. As it weaves back and forth through time, the present and the distant past speaking to each other in unexpected ways, Sound of Falling introduces us to characters ranging from Erika (Lea Drinda), a teen living with a cruel father during World War II, to Lenka (Laeni Geiseler), a seemingly happier young woman in modern Germany, yet who is also touched by sadness. With remarkable fluidity, Schilinski creates invisible connections between eras that suggest how women constantly battle repression and misogyny—and also find pockets of grace and beauty amidst those societal restraints. Shockingly intimate and tender, while also juggling a medley of tones from bleak drama to resplendent reverie, this towering feminist landmark possesses the elegance of a poem and the emotional heft of a great novel. —Tim Grierson
Mascha Schilinski
Berlin-born Mascha Schilinski studied screenwriting at Filmschule Hamburg Berlin and directing at Film Academy Baden-Württemberg. After beginning her career as a casting director and writer, she made her feature directorial debut with Dark Blue Girl (2017), which won prizes at Schwerin Art of Film Festival, Red Rock Festival, and Vancouver International Women in Film Festival. Sound of Falling, her second feature, captured the Jury Prize at Cannes and is Germany’s Best International Feature Film entry in the 98th Academy Awards®.