The Dreamed Path
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.
Greece, 1984. Kenneth, an Englishman, and Theres, a German girl, sing in the street to finance their holidays. They are in love, but when Kenneth learns that his mother had an accident, he hastily returns home, leaving Theres behind. Later, starting to realize how much he needs her, he fails in his attempt to win her back. 30 years later in Berlin. Ariane, a 40-year-old TV actress, leaves her husband, a successful anthropologist, after a marital crisis. After moving into an apartment near the main station, the husband starts seeing a homeless man outside his window. It is Kenneth, who does not know that Theres now also lives in Berlin.
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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