DIE ANFÄNGERIN

Alexandra Sell’s feature debut is a coming-of-age tale with a difference about the grumpy doctor Annebärbel Buschhaus donning her ice skates again at the age of 58 after an absence of 40 years. Back on the ice, she tries to revive long suppressed childhood dreams — and makes a new friend, Jolina Kuhn, Berlin’s youth figure skating champion. Through her new friend, Annebärbel begins to open up and break away from her dominant mother. The film also features a cameo by the real-life figure skater Christine Stüber-Errath, who won the Olympic bronze medal in 1976, and was the world champion and three-times European champion.

photo © Hardy Spitz/Lichtblick Media