Garm
A stray dog turns a couple's relationship into a menace and ultimately threatens their lives.
Christian and Lina, both in their mid-20s, are trapped in a strained relationship. While Christian drifts through a bleak routine, Lina struggles as an artist haunted by dark thoughts. Their intimacy has faded, and Lina's growing bond with her agent fuels Christian's jealousy. After a disturbing sexual encounter with a woman from his past, Christian brings home an injured black dog. Lina soon forms an intense attachment to the animal, while Christian becomes increasingly terrified by its violent and surreal behaviour. As the dog seems to awaken something dark within him, their relationship unravels. When Lina refuses to give it up, Christian decides the only way out is to kill it.
Director's note
Fear of the unknown is a recurring theme in genre storytelling. It often takes the shape of monstrous creatures or ghosts – symbols of the alien, the uncontrollable. Such figures continue to shape popular culture to this day. At first glance, dogs seem to fall outside this pattern: they are our loyal companions, part of everyday life. And yet, they too carry something unpredictable –something deeply animalistic. No matter how well-trained they are, instinct can take over. It's no coincidence that in mythology, the underworld –representing what is hidden, repressed, or emotionally dark –is often guarded by a dog: Cerberus in Greek myth, Garm in Norse legend. Christian, the protagonist of my story, is afraid of dogs. Like the animals themselves, this fear may seem trivial at first –but its root runs deeper: it is the fear of losing control. To enter a relationship, move to a new city, or pet an animal means surrendering control. It means opening oneself to the unpredictable –to the unknown. Fear of the dog, then, becomes a symptom of a much more fundamental powerlessness –an existential dread of the unknown and of the wild, untamaeble forces that lie beneath the surface. Christian ultimately finds that this fear lives within himself. It is the fear of his own inner life –of emotions and impulses that rise or vanish seemingly without reason or permission. That is the core of Garm.
Producer's note
What draws us to Garm is the way it transforms an intimate emotional conflict into psychological genre cinema. While Matthias Kreter's feature debut Ein Abend im Dezember is not a horror film, it already reveals the thematic core that also drives Garm: fear, loss of control, and the emotional damage caused by inner states that can no longer be contained. We have known and accompanied Matthias's work since our time studying together and have followed his development from his earliest short films onward. What sets him apart is his exceptional work with actors and his ability to turn inner conflict into precise, unsettling cinematic form. For us, Garm is the chance to realise a bold elevated genre film with genuine emotional depth and a director whose voice we know deeply and trust completely.
Biography
Nicolas Kronauer, holding a vocational diploma in media production, specialized in production during his film studies at Darmstadt University, graduating with a BA. With experience as a Junior Producer in Berlin, he became Fourmat Film‘s executive producer in 2017, managing projects from concept to final cut, and handling financing and organization. He also served as the young talent section leader at the Producers‘ Association from 2021 to 2023 and teaches at Darmstadt University.
Profile
Founded in 2017 by film graduates from Darmstadt, the company is part of a new generation shaping Hesse's film landscape. Its feature films have screened and won awards internationally, with several new German and European co-productions now in development.