- Germany
THE ORDINARIES
Synopsis
Paula (Fine Sendel) lives in a world sorted according to the rules of film: at the top the Main Characters, with their own storylines, dramatic music and close-ups; below them the Supporting Characters, who function in the background, with limited lines and no feelings; at the very bottom the Outtakes, flawed characters afraid of being cut from the story. Paula is the daughter of a Supporting Character (Jule Böwe) and attends the school for Main Characters. Only the emotional music for her final exam refuses to sound. Searching for the great feeling, she stumbles on inconsistencies surrounding the death of her father, a heroic Main Character, and ends up in the Outtakes’ quarter. “The Ordinaries” by Sophie Linnenbaum (Germany, 2022) turns film grammar into a social system.
Sophie Linnenbaum, who wrote the film as her graduation project at Babelsberg Film University with Michael Fetter Nathansky, built a science-fiction satire that tells its class society through editing, sound and camera – and turns it into a tragicomedy about belonging and exclusion. The Munich Film Festival jury marvelled at the production quality of a student film and awarded it the New German Cinema prize for best direction. It premiered on 27 June 2022 in Munich. “The Ordinaries” was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2022.
Festival
Shown at the 2022 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.
