PELIKANBLUT

Wiebke (Nina Hoss) trains police horses on her farm. She lives alone with her adopted daughter Nikolina, who is already at school, and now takes in a second child: five-year-old Raya (Katerina Lipovska) from Bulgaria, where a working single woman is allowed to adopt. At first Raya seems a fair-haired, obedient child. Then what the girl has brought with her becomes apparent – outbursts of violence, lies, behaviour that endangers Nikolina and throws the farm off balance. Doctors speak of a severe attachment disorder. But Wiebke will not give Raya up, and her determination takes her far beyond what reason would advise. “Pelikanblut” (Germany, 2019) is the second feature by Katrin Gebbe.

Gebbe tells a mother-daughter story in the forms of the thriller and the horror film, without settling for either register. The German-Bulgarian film opened the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival on 28 August 2019. “Pelikanblut” was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2019 in the German Night section.

Shown at the 2019 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2019 · Film Archive