DAS VORSPIEL

Anna teaches violin at a music school, her husband is an instrument-maker. They have a 10-year-old son, Jonas. At the entrance exams only Anna champions young Alexander, in whom she alone sees great talent. She devotes much energy and attention preparing him for the next stage exam to prove she was right. Soon Anna devotes more time to him than to Jonas, bringing the two boys into rivalry. At the same time her marriage is collapsing, she withdraws increasingly from her own family and starts an affair with her colleague Christian, who is encouraging her to join a quartet. When she fails during their joint concert the pressure mounts. With Alexander now her vehicle, she drives him ever onwards and upwards. Come the day of the exam, events take a tragic turn...

Director

INA WEISSE was born in Berlin in 1968. She trained to become an actress at the Otto-Falckenberg-Schule in Munich. Engagements followed at the Münchner Kammerspiele and at the Nationaltheater Mannheim. As an actress, she has appeared in numerous movies and TV films, including SNOWLAND, NOTHING BUT GHOSTS, and NEVER LOOK AWAY. For THE END OF A NIGHT and EIN GROSSER AUFBRUCH she received the German Television Award for Best Actress and the Adolf Grimme Prize in 2012 and 2016. After studying Philosophy in Heidelberg, she studied Directing at the University of Hamburg from 2000 to 2002. Her graduation film ALLES ANDERS was awarded with the First Steps Award 2002. Her feature film THE ARCHITECT, starring Josef Bierbichler, was shown at the Berlinale in 2009 and won the Best Screenplay Award at the Max Ophüls Film Festival. After her documentary THE NEUE NATIONALGALERIE, the German-French co-production THE AUDITION, featuring Nina Hoss is her latest feature.