The Trouble With Being Born

  • Sandra Wollner

Elli is ten years old and lives with Georg, whom she calls Papa, in a house in the forest. It is summer. Elli swims in the pool and in the evening Georg takes her to bed with him. She looks like a girl, but Elli is an android, a machine, a dream figure. She is a copy of Georg's missing daughter. And she is the projection screen for Georg's memories. The memories mean everything to him. They mean nothing to Elli. And although Elli is just a copy, Georg loves her; she makes him happy. That's what she's there for, that's how she's programmed. When Georg follows mysterious voices from the forest, Elli disappears and is taken away by a driver. At Anna's house, Elli becomes Emil, Anna's brother who died young and for whose death Anna blames herself. Elli is given a new identity and a new existence as a projection screen.

DIRECTOR

  • Sandra Wollner

    Sandra Wollner initially studied theater, film and media studies while working as an editor and director of short films and short documentaries. In 2012, she began studying documentary film directing at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. She made her first feature-length film during her studies. The Trouble With Being Born is her graduation film at the Filmakademie.

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