Mascha Schilinski makes her Cannes Competition debut with Sound of Falling, a film that follows four girls living on a Northern German farm across a century. The idea sprang from a 1920 snapshot of three women found by Schilinski and co-writer Louise Peter in an abandoned farmhouse. They spent five years shaping a script driven by images and atmosphere rather than dialogue.
Schilinski and cinematographer Fabian Gamper tackled a two-and-a-half-hour story in just 34 days, facing tight schedules and regulations around working with child actors. Casting took a year and involved screening 1,400 girls to find faces that felt authentic to each era. The final ensemble blends newcomers with seasoned performers to carry the film’s shifting timelines.
Cannes organizers and MK2 acquired the project under its shorter title after early screenings. Schilinski had preferred The Doctor Says I’ll Be Alright, But I’m Feelin’ Blue, but found audiences struggled to recall the long name. Sound of Falling highlights how echoes from the past shape the present.
Building on her stealth-style debut Dark Blue Girl, Schilinski explores how unspoken moments imprint themselves on bodies and memories. She asks whether experiences can pass from one life to the next, suggesting that some forces bind generations.
Schilinski’s path to directing began after she left high school and worked in casting. At age 28, she entered film academy and transitioned from writing TV scripts to features. When she learned of her official selection just before Christmas, she and Gamper kept the news secret until the lineup was announced.