Cannes Film Festival: Mascha Schilinski wins the Jury Prize

Nine years ago, a German competition film really shook things up at Cannes: the comedy "Toni Erdmann" (2016). Sandra Hüller, as a career-minded manager's daughter, throws a nude party, while Peter Simonischek, as a hapless jokester father, gets his buck teeth.

Back then, it wasn't just the always somewhat biased German fan base that predicted a prize at the world's most important film festival, where Germans are often just spectators. But then, on the evening of the awards gala, no one from Maren Ade's film team climbed the red steps to the Palais. It was clear: once again nothing for German cinema, and once again no award for a female director.

That was different on this Saturday evening, even though Mascha Schilinski initially couldn't believe her ears: "I was afraid I'd misheard it," said the 41-year-old. "It was somehow a surreal moment, simply wonderful." Schilinski didn't ultimately win the Palme d'Or for her women's drama "Looking Into the Sun," which went to Iranian Jafar Panahi for "It Was Just an Accident." But the Berliner did snag the Jury Prize (together with Frenchman Oliver Laxe).

"Looking into the Sun" (cinema release: September 11) is only Schilinski's second feature film after "The Daughter." "It tells the story of four girls who grow up at different times over the course of a century on the same farm in rural Altmark. Although separated by time, the girls' lives begin to mirror each other," the director told the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND). "It functions like an associative stream of images that connects the fragments of memories of all the characters on the farm. Fragments that form an essentially impossible testimony to a collective experience."

Women's stories that tell of an entire century: Scene from "Looking into the Sun".

Source: Neue Visionen Filmverleih

Schilinski opened the highly competitive competition in Cannes with her film a week and a half ago. And if one phrase has repeatedly reached Germany from the South of France since then, it has been this: With her impressive film, she has set the bar high for all the other competition participants. Apparently, the drama also stuck in the minds of the Palme d'Or jury, led by President Juliette Binoche, despite 21 subsequent films.

"The film deserves to be seen. And it's great that this is now happening in front of a worldwide audience," Schilinski told RND. This reflected a healthy sense of self-confidence.

Schilinski began taking on roles in film and television as a schoolgirl. After graduating from high school, she let the wind blow around her face – as a magician and fire dancer with a small Italian traveling circus. She never lost sight of her career goal: She completed various internships in the film industry, shot commercials, and studied stage directing at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy.

With her film debut, "The Daughter" (2017), starring Helena Zengel, she made it to the Berlinale. The Berlinale is now at a disadvantage. According to Schilinski, she had also offered her film to the festival in the German capital. Cannes, with its unerring instinct for talent, was quicker.

Schilinski is now enjoying the greatest possible attention a young auteur filmmaker can garner. This is also good for German cinema—especially since Fatih Akin's "Amrum" and Christian Petzold's "Miroirs No. 3" also garnered praise in prestigious sidebars at Cannes. It's no longer just veterans like Wim Wenders or Volker Schlöndorff who are gaining entry to the cinematic Olympus on the Côte d'Azur.

But the most remarkable thing is that female directors are finally moving into the spotlight, even in the male-dominated Cannes, which, after stubborn resistance, is apparently gradually opening up to female talent. So far, only three women have won the Palme d'Or there (Jane Campion, Julia Ducournau, Justine Triet).

With her award, Schilinski is likely paving the way for other young female directors who face even greater challenges elsewhere. In her political acceptance speech, she recalled these: "We would like to dedicate this award to all those who live in places where it is not easy, impossible, or barely possible to make films—and especially to young filmmakers, and especially women: Your voices matter. Don't give them up."