Film: 24 Weeks / 24 Wochen (2016) | Directed by Anne Zohra Berrached | Language: German subtitled in English
About the film: A deeply moving drama about an expectant mother faced with an almost impossible decision: whether or not to proceed with the birth of a disabled child. A brave and forcefully narrated film that lingers a long time. (Long Text): As a cabaret artist, Astrid makes people laugh. Markus, her boyfriend, is also her manager. They work well together, are a well-established team, and have a nine-year-old daughter. They’re also expecting their second child. During the sixth month of pregnancy, a routine examination reveals to the couple that their expected child will be born with Down’s syndrome and a serious heart defect. From one day to the next, the young family’s routine is turned upside down. Certainty and optimism alternate on a daily basis with depression, panic, and helplessness. Despite all the uncertainty and doubt, Astrid and Markus decide to have the baby. The nearer the due date gets, however, the greater Astrid’s worries and misgivings. After countless discussions and disputes inside and outside the family circle, she is forced to make a decision that is as inevitable as it is permanently irreversible. Anne Zohra Berrached’s impressive and stirring film tells of an expectant couple’s trauma. It illustrates, with coherent dialogue and intricately developed scenes, how the difficult decision process that they must both endure cannot be broken down into right and wrong or black and white. The film owes its almost documentary feel to the participation of genuine doctors and nurses. The ensuing high level of objectivity and authenticity enhances the characters’ conflict and allows the viewer to share this difficult situation with the couple. 24 WEEKS is Anne Zohra Berrached’s final film for the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy.
About the Director: Anne Zohra Berrached was born in Erfurt to German-Algerian parents. After studying social pedagogy, she gained her first directing experience at various theaters in Berlin before she began studying directing at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy in 2009. In the same year, she made her first documentary The Break Clown (2009). A year later she made her short documentary film, Heilige & Hure (2010), with which she was invited to more than 80 film festivals worldwide. In 2013, Anne Zohra Berrached directed her first feature film Two Mothers. In a semi-documentary manner, he tells of the difficult undertaking of a lesbian couple to have a child through a sperm donation. The film premiered at the Berlinale, where it won the Perspektive Deutsches Kino award. Berrached's second feature film 24 Weeks was the only German entry in the 2016 Berlinale competition. The stirring drama about a pregnant woman who, faced with the diagnosis that she is expecting a severely disabled child, has to decide for or against a late abortion, caused an international sensation and received numerous awards, including the German Film Prize in silver.
Anne Zora Berrached also ventured into controversial territory with her third film: The World Will Be Another (international title Copilot ) based on the story of the 9/11 assassin Mohammed Atta tells of the relationship between a German-Turkish medical student and her Lebanese man who is gradually becoming Islamist radicalized. Anne Zohra Berrached was a member of the jury for the Berlinale competition this year. She lives and works in Leipzig and Berlin.
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