Timetable

Breaking the Ice

Clara Stern

AT
2022
Spielfilm
102’
dt. OmeU
desired! – film lust and queer

Mira (Alina Schaller) lives with her mother and grandfather on an estate. They work in the winery. Every day, Mira’s grandfather asks her again about her brother Paul, who has gone missing. The next day, he’s forgotten that he already asked, plus that Paul has gone at all. As well as working for the family business, Mira is a successful ice hockey player, captaining her team in the city. Everything is pretty rocky, but at least they’re getting attuned with each other. Then, right in the middle of the season, a new player joins the team, and then Paul appears at the stadium out of the blue. Mira, who always manages to do what’s required of her and is always finding ways to sort out people’s relationships, now has to juggle being in love alongside the difficult family situation. Not being someone who talks much, and whose family don’t either, she now has to open up and communicate. Clara Stern’s debut feature-length film portrays Mira as someone on a quest surrounded by the pressures she faces. What roles is she able and willing to fulfil? What options does she have? Which worlds are open to her? The result is a coming-of-age film that tries not to stifle its protagonist. Instead, the soundtrack, for example, repeatedly assumes the cinematic space for minutes at a time and opens things up for Mira away from the beaten track. Moments between city and country, speaking and silence, togetherness and loneliness are tested in their ambivalences.

This film contains physical violence.

Guest: Clara Stern


Awards for »Breaking the Ice«
Preis der Jugendjury, Preis für den gesellschaftlich relevanten Film, Preis für Bestes Drehbuch (Fritz Raff Drehbuchpreis), Nominierung für Bester Schauspielnachwuchs: Judith Altenberger – Max Ophüls Preis Filmfestival 2023 | Preis für die Beste Regie Österreichs – Filmfestival Kitzbühel 2022

Director / Script

Clara Stern

Cinematography

Johannes Hoss

Editing

Matthias Writze

Sound

Nora Czamler

Music

Benedikt Palier

Cast

Alina Schaller, Judith Altenberger, Tobias Resch, Pia Hierzegger, Wolfgang Böck

Production

NGF – Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion GmbH

Contact

Films Boutique

Clara Stern

Clara Stern

Clara Stern is a screenwriter, director and moderator. She studied theatre, film and media studies in Vienna and Utrecht. Following her theoretical studies, she studied screenwriting, dramaturgy and directing at the Film Academy Vienna. Breaking the Ice is her debut feature film. Her latest short film Mathias has already been successfully screened at international film festivals and has won awards, including the Austrian Film Prize in the short film category in 2018. Her interest in working in the medium of film stems from a feminist perspective and socio-critical as well as political themes.


Filme von Clara Stern
Mathias 2017 | Wartezeit 2016 | Leuchtkraft 2015 | Im Jahre Schnee 2013 | Sonnenuntergang 2012 | Die Inseln, die wir sind 2011