I Was at Home, But...
One of the aims of the Cinémathèque québécoise’s programming is to reflect the ongoing evolution of a body of work still in the making. We are presenting this retrospective of German filmmaker Angela Schanelec as the selection of her latest film in the official competition of the 2026 Berlinale has just been announced. Winner of the Silver Bear in 2019, her filmography stretches back over three decades. Her refined directing style and sense of editing demonstrate her ability to let drama simmer, delicately and without exaggeration. Her greatest virtuosity undoubtedly lies in her ability to conceal the complexity of her art.
Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director, 2019 Berlin International Film Festival
I Was at Home, But... tells the story of Astrid, a forty-something mother of two, struggling to regain her balance in the wake of her husband’s death. Her adolescent son Phillip disappeared for a week and now that he has returned, he faces disciplinary action at school and his toe requires amputation. As new questions confront Astrid from every angle, even simple activities like buying a bicycle or engaging with a work of art, are fraught with unexpected challenges.
Angela Schanelec
Angela Schanelec is a German filmmaker, screenwriter, and actress. In 2019, she won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival for I Was at Home, But. She also won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay for Music in 2023. She is part of the so-called first wave of the Berlin School alongside Christian Petzold and Thomas Arslan. Critics have generally embraced her cinematic style, which almost exclusively employs lengthy, static shots with little action and ambiguous emotional content, tenuously connected by a narrative. She is frequently compared to several European avant-garde filmmakers, such as Chantal Akerman, Michelangelo Antonioni and Robert Bresson, whom she has cited as an important influence.
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