Event

WESTWIND

WESTWIND
Germany, Hungary 2011, 89 min, 35mm
DIR Robert Thalheim, SCR Ilja Haller, Susann Schimk, CAST Friederike Becht, Luise Heyer, Franz Dinda, Volker Bruch

It is 1988, a year before the fall of the Berlin Wall and inseparable 17-year-old twins Doreen and Isabel from East Germany spend a summer at Lake Balaton in Hungary. The twins are decorated oarswomen sent by their country to Soviet satellite states like Hungary to bring home trophies. Hungary's borders are porous and West Germans can visit Lake Balaton. When Doreen falls for Arne, a West German tourist from Hamburg, the twin's well-structured summer begins to crumble. Risking a promising career as a rower and the twin's close relationship, Doreen will destroy everything that the twins have lived for if she follows her heart across the borders to West Germany. Based on true events, Robert Thalheim's third feature paints a beautiful, engaging picture of first love on the backdrop of harsh political realities.

Robert Thalheim
Born in1974 in Berlin, Thalheim was an assistant director at the Berliner Ensemble before he began in 2000 to study directing at the Filmhochschule Potsdam-Babelsberg. His debut film NETTO (2004) won several awards (Best First Feature at B&B 2006). His second feature AND ALONG COME TOURISTS (Am Ende kommen Touristen, B&B 2008), shot on location in Auschwitz was invited to the Cannes Film Festival 2007.