Janine zieht aufs Land
“In order to withstand the contempt of those days, I often imagined that the village was a glittering stage. And now I want to return to the village.” Janine has made up her mind. Together with her asthmatic partner, she’s turning her back on Berlin. Yet in the lifeless village streets, her queer appearance doesn’t just awaken positive associations. Processing his own provincial past, Jan Eilhardt weaves a selection of private videoclips and photos into his film which reveal that Janine has been accompanying him for many years. They also show his memories of his mother Brigitte, who realised that growing up in a village formed an important test: rural stigmatisation as a sort of German Little Rock. It’s a path that still lies in front of neighbour Peter, who lives with his overwhelmed mother and his brother Enrico. Janine’s arrival stokes his yearnings, but also implies coming out and all the fears that entails. Eilhardt translates the encounter into a campy, eroticising and often dramatic 360-degree view of a hostile milieu. Confronting old wounds, Janine subverts this milieu with lasciviousness, music and the confidence of someone who’s never had anything to prove to themselves.
details
-
Runtime
74 min -
Country
Germany -
Year of Presentation
2025 -
Year of Production
2025 -
Director
Jan Eilhardt -
Cast
Janine Lear, Maximilian Brauer, Adrian Wenzel, Kathrin Angerer, Pierre Emö, Susanne Bredehöft, Daniel Zillmann, Beatrice Cordula -
Production Company
Eilhardt Productions -
Berlinale Section
Forum -
Berlinale Category
Feature Film
pictures from the movie
Biography Jan Eilhardt
Jan Eilhardt studied film and performance at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts (HFBK Hamburg), among others with Marina Abramović, and worked as an assistant to Heiner Müller at the Berliner Ensemble. His films and experimental projects have been presented at international film festivals as well as in cinemas and museum contexts. His feature film debut Scherbengericht premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2013. Fremdenverführerin (2022), a queer-activist Super 8 short film, screened at international festivals and won numerous awards. In 2025, the autobiographically inspired feature film Janine zieht aufs Land will follow, supported by mediatalents (nordmedia).
Filmography Jan Eilhardt
2002 Straße der Revolution (Streets of the Revolution) | 2003 Dance | 2004 Tertiär | 2005 Quasar | 2006 CDF 1 | 2007 CDF 2 | 2012 Scherbengericht (The Court of Shards) | 2012 Moby Dick Piece | 2013 The Last Night of Baby Gun | 2014 Gun Street Girl Sings Tom Waits | 2021 The Real Court of Shards | 2022 Fremdenverführerin (Sanaa, Seductress of Strangers) | 2025 Die Bienenverweigerin (Beer Refusic) | 2025 Bad Luck | 2025 Janine zieht aufs Land (Janine Moves to the Country)