Slovak premiere

At the beginning of the 17th century, a mysterious soldier arrives in a remote Protestant village. Frail in appearance, modest in manner, and marked by a scar across the face, the stranger claims to be the heir to a long-abandoned farmstead, presenting suspicious villagers with a document to support the claim. Over time, however, the newcomer earns their trust and gradually becomes part of the community thanks to hard work and deep piety. Yet the entire identity is built on deception: the soldier is in fact a woman living as a man, and every decision she makes increases the risk of exposure.

The film’s stark black-and-white cinematography heightens both the harshness of the setting and the quiet tension hidden within everyday situations, while reinforcing the intimate nature of a story about identity and survival in a society where a person’s fate is inseparable from gender.

For her performance, Sandra Hüller received the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance at the Berlinale.

Cast: Sandra Hüller, Caro Braun, Godehard Giese, Marisa Growaldt, Robert Gwisdek

Distributor: Bionaut