Film
Sound of Falling
In die Sonne schauen
A century of German history told through the eyes of four young women living on the same property across different eras. The film weaves between time periods with the delicacy of faded memories, exploring sexuality, shattered innocence, and feminism's fitful progress.
About
Mascha Schilinski's Sound of Falling (German: In die Sonne schauen) was selected as Germany's official submission for the 97th Academy Awards in the Best International Feature Film category and earned European Film Award nominations for both Best Director and Best Screenwriter at the 2025 ceremony. It is Schilinski's second feature, following Dark Blue Girl (2017), and her first project to receive major international festival programming.
The film premiered at Cannes 2025 in Un Certain Regard and was widely treated as one of the strongest entries in the section that year. The screenplay is by Schilinski with Louise Peter; cinematography is by Fabian Gamper, who shoots the four time periods in distinct visual registers (different lenses, different stocks, different colour grading) to give each layer its own optical identity within the same farmhouse setting.
The cast includes Hanna Heckt, Lea Drinda, Susanne Wuest, Greta Krämer, Lena Urzendowsky and Helena Zengel, Zengel is the same actress who appeared opposite Tom Hanks in News of the World (2020), here returning to a German-language production. The film was shot at a single farm property in Saxony-Anhalt over an unusually long fifty-eight-day schedule, partly to accommodate the seasonal continuity required by the time-period structure. It is regarded as one of the most ambitious German features of 2025 and a defining work of the so-called slow-cinema branch of contemporary German art-house production.
Where to Watch
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Streaming availability via JustWatch. Last checked 2026-05-31.
Top Cast
Luise Heyer
Christa
Lena Urzendowsky
Angelika
Claudia Geisler-Bading
Irm
Lea Drinda
Erika
Hanna Heckt
Alma
Awards, Festivals & Mentions
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Nominee × 2 — European Film Awards: Best Director, Best Screenwriter
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Germany's submission for Academy Award Best International Feature (2025)
Featured In
- 10 Must-Watch European Films of 2025 5 April 2026
- 10 Must-Watch German Films of 2025 5 April 2026