DER NACHTMAHR

Tina (Carolyn Genzkow), seventeen, spends the Berlin summer at parties and in clubs. After a night of alcohol and strobe light she collapses, and from then on it keeps returning: a small, misshapen creature that only she can see, which appears night after night in her parents’ house. Her parents have no understanding for their daughter’s visions and send her to a psychiatrist, and her friends turn away. Tina comes to realise that she and the creature are connected – whatever happens to it, she feels in her own body. “Der Nachtmahr” (Germany 2015) is the film by Akiz, the Berlin artist Achim Bornhak.

A monster film that is also a coming-of-age film: Akiz tells the story in techno beats and strobe light, taking his heroine’s fear as seriously as her rebellion. Der Spiegel called it a horror, monster and youth film in one, more mature than many a drama. At the Max Ophüls Preis festival in 2016 it received the Jury Prize and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. At Around the World in 14 Films it was shown in Berlin in 2015 in the German Night section.

Shown at the 2015 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2015 · Film Archive